Saint Joseph's College Men's Baseball

O'Dette returned to his alma mater as head baseball coach in September of 2000. Through 15 seasons he has compiled a record of 433-361-4, with a 279-231-1 mark in the Great Lakes Valley Conference games. In 2015 the Pumas bounced back with an experienced pitching staff. O'Dette guided the Pumas to a 24-22-1 overall mark with a 18-17-1 record in the the GLVC. The year was highlighted with Brian Bayliss being drafted in the 18th round of the MLB Ametuer Draft by the Kansas City Royals. In the 29th round Keegan Long was selected by the the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The Pumas still maintained one of the best pitching staffs in the GLVC in 2014, producing a 4.41 ERA. SJC's 334 strikeouts placed second in the league behind Drury. The pitching staff led the GLVC with 7.55 strikeouts per game. SJC finished 19-31 overall with a 14-22 mark in the GLVC. O'Dette reach career win No. 400 on April 5th as the Pumas defeated the University of Wisconsin Parkside 12-5 at Gil Hodges Field.  O'Dette and the Pumas ended a five year absence from the NCAA Tournament in 2013. SJC finished fourth in the GLVC East with a 24-12 record in league play and a 30-20 mark overall. The Pumas were selected as the fourth seed in the Midwest Regional before the season ended in the second round by Bellarmine University in 12 innings. SJC had one of the nation's most prolific pitching staffs in 2013 as the Pumas finished with the best strike-out to walk ratio and walks per nine innings in DII baseball. SJC's 2.88 team ERA ranked 11th in the country. Under O'Dette's guidance, Jordan Peterson became the GLVC Pitcher of the Year as well as Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year. Peterson is the third Puma slinger to be tabbed as the conferences Pitcher of the Year since the awards inception in 2002.  Mike Stitz garnered the first postseason accolade for SJC in 2005, while Blaine Cravens was the last to be honored in 2008. In 2012 O'Dette entered the season as Pumas all-time winningest coach. He surpassed Mike Moyzis with his 357th win on April 22nd with a 6-5 over Northern Kentucky University. A day prior, O'Dette was inducted into the Saint Joseph's College Hall of Fame. Also, in the 2012 season, SJC played the toughest schedule in the nation, facing seven ranked opponents, including three programs that qualified for the College World Series. The young squad finished the second half of the season with a 16-15 record after a 1-16 start. The Pumas were 17-31 overall in 2012 with a 16-19 mark in the GLVC. During the 2011 season SJC finished 22-25-1 with a 15-19 mark in the GLVC. The season did feature a 18-4 victory over 6th ranked University of Tampa. In 2010 the Pumas finished with a 32-22 record and a 16-12 mark in the GLVC. SJC took NCAA Tournament aspiration into the GLVC Tournament, eliminating No. 17 Northern Kentucky 6-4 to reach the semi-finals. The Pumas were ranked as high as 14th in the country during the 2009 season and finished 32-20. O'Dette, who also serves as the Pumas' pitching coach, led a pitching staff that led NCAA Division II in strikeouts per nine innings. 2009 also saw two SJC players selected in Major League Baseball's first-year player draft. Catcher Mike Pericht was selected in the 16th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers and left-handed pitcher Shane Zegarac was taken by the Texas Rangers in 42nd round. During his tenure, O'Dette has overseen the development of 22 players that have gone on to play professional baseball. In 2008, O'Dette skippered SJC to a final record of 46-18. The Pumas earned the right to host the North Central Regional at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood, Illinois. The 46 wins rank second in school history, behind only the 1996 National Runner-up team that won 52 games and for whom O'Dette was a left-handed starting pitcher. SJC reached as high as number 8 in the national rankings in 2008 and finished the season ranked 22nd. The 2008 Pumas were recognized with several accolades as Blaine Cravens was named the GLVC and North Central Region Pitcher of the Year, while Matt Reimer and Matt Wille were named to the first-team for both the conference and the region. In the last 11 years O'Dette has compiled a record of 327-252-2 and 222-165-1 in the GLVC including a regular season conference title in 2005 and NCAA Regional appearances in 2005, 2008, and 2013. O'Dette has led his alma mater to two of the top three win totals in program history, with 42 in 2005 and 46 in 2008. He collected his 200th head coaching victory on April 17, 2007 against Lewis University and picked up his 250th win on April 26, 2008 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. O'Dette won his 300th career game on April 2, 2010 with a come-from-behind 13-10 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan College. The 2006 and 2007 seasons saw O'Dette lead young Puma teams to 30-win seasons and conference tournament births, going 33-23 and 30-21 respectively. SJC turned the corner under O'Dette in 2005 when they went 42-19 and won the regular-season conference championship by going 30-8 in conference play. The Pumas played host to the NCAA Regional and O'Dette earned conference coach of the year honors for his efforts. In his second year as the Puma skipper in 2002 O'Dette led his club to a 31-26-2 record and to the finals of the conference tournament. The GLVC Tournament would become accustomed to SJC's presence, as O'Dette would lead his squads there in six of the next seven years. Just as important as the on-field success achieved by the Pumas during O'Dette's tenure, they have also garnered accomplishments off it. SJC has placed numerous athletes on the conference All-Academic team and kept a 3.4 team GPA while winning 46 games in 2008. Every player that has expired his eligibility with the program has earned a degree under O'Dette. A native of Tinley Park, Ill., O'Dette was a member of the SJC baseball team from 1995-97. He finished his career was a record of 15-3 on the mound and was named to the All-Region Team in 1996 and the All-GLVC team in 1997. He helped the 1996 squad to a National Runner-up finish at the Division II World Series in Montgomery, Ala. Following his junior season, O'Dette was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 15th round of the 1997 amateur draft. He played at four different levels within the Red Sox organization. Prior to his return to SJC O'Dette worked as a professional instructor for Championship Sports Academy in Tinley Park, as well as the Chicago White Sox Training Center. He also spent two summers as the head coach for the Upper Deck Cougars Baseball Organization out of Palos, Ill. The Cougars finished in fourth place at the World Championships both years. O'Dette spent the 1999-2000 academic year as the pitching coach for Andrean High School in Merrillville, Ind. O'Dette earned his degree from SJC in 1999 with a major in Physical Education and a minor in Health and Safety. He resides in Rensselaer with his wife Sherry (SJC '98) and their children Ricky (11) and Alyssa (7).  

Bunnell was became the assistant baseball coach at Saint Josephs College in August of 2013. Bunnell will assist with the development of the infielders as well as help in the SJC recruiting efforts.   Bunnell comes to SJC after a three-year stint as an assistant with Lake Erie College, where he specialized working with the Storm's defense and strategy.  He also served as the team's first base coach on gamedays.    His first two years with the Strom were the best in school history, as the Storm won 48 games during that time and qualified for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament for the first time in 2012. LEC collected 66 victories in three seasons after an 18-30 mark in 2013.   Prior to Lake Erie, Bunnell spent two seasons as an assistant at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. While at NCC, Bunnell worked with the 2010 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) championship and NCAA regional qualifiers.  That followed a four-season stay at his alma mater, Mount Union College, where the Purple Raiders twice made playoff appearances.   Bunnell was an All-Ohio Athletic Conference player at Mount Union, earning all-league accolades in 2003 and All-Tournament Team recognition in 2002 when he helped lead his team to the conference championship game.   During the summer months, he coached the Stark County Terriers of the wood-bat Great Lakes Summer League for four seasons (2006-09), including the last two as head coach.  He was named the leagues manager of the year in 2008 after guiding the Terriers to a franchise record 26 wins.  He continues to work with area youth travel team and writes the popular Coach's Cave baseball coaching-themed blog.   Bunnell holds a bachelors degree in Business and Marketing from Mount Union.  He earned a masters degree in Liberal Studies from North Central.  A native of Conneaut, Ohio, he currently resides in Rensselaer.

Kennedy returned to Saint Josephs College baseball team in July of 2015. Kennedy previously served as an assistant baseball coach in 2005 and during the 2007-08 seasons.   Kennedy was apart of SJC during two of the three most prolific seasons in school history. The Pumas went 42-19 in 2005 and hosted the Midwest Regional at Gil Hodges Field. In 2008 SJC came within an eyelash of reaching the World Series. The Pumas fell to Ashland in the Regional Championship. While on the bench, SJC held a record of 116-56 with two NCAA appearances.   Most recently, Kennedy spent the 2014 season as the hitting coach of the Joliet Slammers of the Frontier League. After leaving SJC, Kennedy spent five seasons (2009-13) as the Head Coach of Parkland Community College. The Cobras won the NJCAA World Series in 2009, his first season at the helm and placed fifth in the 2010 season. Parkland played in four consecutive Regional Title games from 2009-2012.   Kennedy compiled a record of 217-76 during his time in Champaign. While at Parkland, Kennedy coached eight NJCAA All-American's and over 75 of his players received scholarships to NCAA and NAIA programs.  The team also showed significant improvement in the classroom regularly earning a grade point average of 3.0 or higher while seven players were named NJCAA Academic All-American's.   Kennedy was a middle infielder in college. He was an assistant at Kentucky Wesleyan (2004) and Indiana State University (2006). The Panthers finished 30-25 in 2004 while the Sycamores finished the 2006 campaign with a 20-34 record.   After two years at Kankakee Community College Kennedy earned his bachelors in History from Kentucky Wesleyan College in 2003. Kennedy resides in his hometown of Lafayette, Indiana with his son Karson and daughters Emilyne and Jolee.