University of the Southwest Men's Baseball

Appel has led the Mustangs to 37 wins in his first two seasons - the most in a two-year span for USW since the 2006-07 seasons. In Red River Athletic Conference play, Appel has guided USW to 27 wins in two seasons, the most in a two-year span since 2003-04. In 2016 under Appel's guidance, USW won 19 games (tied for the second most for the program in the previous nine seasons) with 15 of those wins coming in RRAC play - tied for the most RRAC wins for the program since 2003. Appel came to USW after serving as head coach at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Oklahoma. While at OPSU, Appel transformed the Aggie baseball team into a disciplined program that was being built to succeed in the highly competitive NCAA Division II Heartland Conference. Under his leadership, OPSU baseball student-athletes also excelled in the classroom as the team GPA improved from 2.20 in 2011 to 3.30 in 2014. During his tenure, Appel was the catalyst for a number of facility enhancements that turned the OPSU baseball field into one of the top facilities in the Heartland Conference. Appel, a Socorro, New Mexico native, began his intercollegiate athletic playing career at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas, where he received his associates degree before continuing his collegiate playing career at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut where he served as team captain for the baseball program, earned his Bachelor of Science degree with Magna Cum Laude honors and was also awarded his Master of Science degree. Immediately following his collegiate playing career, Appel joined the coaching staff at his alma mater as an assistant pitching coach and began his climb in the baseball coaching profession. Appel was named the UB baseball programs top assistant and pitching coach in 2006 and by 2009 had constructed a pitching staff that finished the season with a 3.25 ERA and was ranked sixth in the nation. Following the 2009 season, Appel was selected by Oklahoma Panhandle State as its top assistant coach. After the 2010 season, he was named the head caoch of the Aggies baseball team and began his efforts of building a program that would compete at a high level, earn the respect of its opponents and become a source of pride for the university and its community. Appels recruiting efforts throughout the states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and the Southwest region resulted in the establishment and growth of an Aggie baseball program that boasted 55-60 student-athletes on its roster during his tenure.