A new age of Durango High School baseball is about to begin, but a familiar face will lead the transition.
Eric Baker was named the new varsity baseball head coach at DHS on Dec. 18 by athletic director David Preszler. It was the third new head coach hired by Preszler this year, with a new girls lacrosse coach still to be named. Preszler is in his first year as athletic director at DHS after stops in the same capacity at Fort Lewis College and Bayfield High School.
Baker, who works full time as the finance director for Durango Fire Protection District, was promoted to the head baseball job after serving as an assistant to former head coach Rob Coddington, who stepped down after the 2014 season. Coddington said spending more time with his young children led to his resignation.
“I’m pretty excited about it. I do think it will be a challenge, but I’ve been involved here for 10 years and always tend to get excited about this time of year,” Baker said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald before the holidays. “There is a lot of stuff that the head coach is responsible for that you’re not when you’re an assistant, so that will be a challenge.”
From working with the junior varsity team, Baker already is familiar with the players on the current roster. He said that familiarity, paired with being around Coddington’s system that produced two final four teams in his final two seasons, will go a long way toward aiding the transition.
“There’s been a tremendous amount of success with four years in a row going to at least the first round of the playoffs and hosting games three of those years,” Baker said. “That’s a high bar. Beyond that, I think the programs has been competitive and really has been a quality program and taught quality baseball.”
Baker said he is similar to Coddington in terms of overall philosophies and stressing fundamentals. As far as differences, Baker knows it will be hard to match Coddington’s offensive output.
“Rob is very offensive-minded and did a great job teaching hitting. Perennially, he had one of the best hitting teams, at least in the southwest, if not the top part of 4A in the state,” Baker said. “I’m a little more defensive-minded than Rob was.”
Baker, who often could be seen during varsity games fidgeting with the uncooperative scoreboard lights at the school’s Kevin Walden Memorial Field, said improving the team’s playing field will be a priority.
“In cooperation with the softball program, I want to see if we can’t keep building on that. There’s been a lot of work the last four to five years improving the field to make little changes and make it a better experience for the players,” Baker said.
Baker, the older brother of Lars Baker, an assistant on the Piedra Vista baseball coaching staff in Farmington, was born into a baseball family. Lars Baker also runs the Piedra Vista developmental summer program in the Connie Mack summer league. Eric Baker plans on bringing back the Connie Mack summer team Coddington led up until 2014.
“At the high school level, you have to have some place for the kids to get some games in during the summer. It’s critical for development for them as freshmen and developing into playing at the varsity level,” Eric Baker said. “We will be working on a summer program and trying to solidify that.”
The new coach is ready to hit the diamond running and is anxious to see what this year’s group of eight returning players can do. That group includes two players who already have signed with colleges, including Division I signee Zac Gasaway.
“Baseball is something my family was involved in growing up and really enjoyed. Once it bites ya and the coaching bug bites ya, it’s hard to shake it,” Baker said. “I can’t wait to get going.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
