Flagler College Men's Baseball

Barnett's team finished the season with a 29-23 overall record and a 14-10 mark in league play. The Saints finished third in the East Division and beat No. 18 North Georgia in the first round of the conference tournament.    Prior to joining NCAA Division II and the Peach Belt, Barnett's teams qualified for conference and regional play 16-out-of-the-20 years as a member of the NAIA. The highest ranking the Saints achieved was No. 3 in the 2003 poll. The Saints were a game away from the NAIA World Series, finishing as runners-up in the regionals, in 1993 and 2002. During Barnetts tenure, 37 players have signed professional contracts. He has also seen three former players drafted in the first 10 rounds: Jim Woodrow by the San Francisco Giants in the fifth round (1995), Lonny Landry by the Detroit Tigers in the ninth round (1993) and Andrew "Opie" Brodbeck by the St. Louis Cardinals in the ninth round (2015). Chris Barnwell, a 25th Round selection of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002, is the only Flagler player to reach the Major Leagues. Barnett has also coached numerous players who have garnered all-conference and all-America honors.  Barnett has the unique distinction of playing and coaching at every level of the game. In 1983, he started his coaching career at Jacksonville's Episcopal High. After graduating with a bachelor's from Flagler, Barnett then served as an assistant at the University of Iowa (1984-86) while obtaining a master's in educational administration. He then moved back to Florida to assist at Valencia Community College. From there h e was a coach at the Boardwalk & Baseball facility in Haines City, Florida  before accepting the head coaching position at Flagler in 1987. In the summer of 2002 and 2003, Barnett served as the manager of the Vermont Expos, a Class A affiliate of the Montreal Expos in the New York-Penn League. He also has international coaching experience as he assisted a group of collegiate players participating in Holland as part of the Dutch Haarlem Baseball Week. Barnett was the head coach of a group of high school all-stars who toured and competed against teams throughout Italy.  As a collegiate player, he played at Seminole Community College in Sanford, Fla., before transferring to the University of North Carolina. He led the Tar Heels in batting average in 1978 and helped lead the team to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska where they finished in third place. Barnett signed a free agent contract with the Montreal Expos, and after one season he joined the world famous four-man fast-pitch softball team, "The King & His Court," which featured the legendary Eddie Feigner. He barnstormed the world from 1980-83, and again in 1988, as the team's shortstop. From 1994-2009, Barnett served the dual role of athletics director and baseball coach at Flagler. During his 15 years as athletics director, Flagler added women's golf, women's soccer and fast-pitch softball to the athletics program. He oversaw the construction of the baseball stadium (2000), the softball stadium (2008) and major renovations to the soccer field and Flagler Gym. During his tenure as athletics director, the program won two Florida Sun Conference Commissioner's Cups and Barnett was named NAIA Region XIV Athletics Director of the Year in 2001. He was instrumental in Flagler's transition to NCAA Division II.