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2009 Baseball Coaches
 
RichBenjamin
Head Coach
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Rich Benjamin was hired on September 7, 2007, and by May 3, 2008, he had guided the Judson baseball team to their first, ever, CCAC Tournament Championship and NAIA Region VII berth.  In his first season, he accomplished more than expected for a program on the rise. 
 
The 2008 season brought lots of excitement to the program.  After starting off 1-13, Judson won nine straight games to tie the school record.  From that point, Judson knew they could have a special season.  The team defeated two nationally ranked programs, defeated St. Xavier University for the first time in program history, won the CCAC Tournament Championship, received an at-large bid to the NAIA Region VII Tournament, tied the school record for CCAC wins in a season (12), and finished with a #5 ranking in the NAIA Region VII poll.  Along with the team accomplishments, there were several post season awards.  One of the highlights was Oscar DePablos, who broke the single game record for hits in a game, who was named the CCAC Freshman of the Year.  Benjamin also was named the NCCAA North Central Region Coach of the Year.
 
When Benjamin was hired at Judson, Judson's Director of Athletics Nancy Binger said, "We are very pleased to add Rich to our staff. He is coming from Judson from a solid CCAC program and it will be beneficial that he knows the conference and the level of play.  I expect that he will continue to move the baseball program in the right direction. He is definitely ready to be a head coach at this level and I am glad he is getting his chance at Judson."
 

Benjamin is not unfamiliar with the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference as he was an assistant coach at Olivet Nazarene University for three seasons. In those three seasons, ONU went 93-49-1 and had a 44-16 record in the CCAC. At ONU, he was a part of the 2005 CCAC regular season championship team that went 17-3 and had an overall record of 40-12. They also finished as the NAIA Region VII runners-up. In all three seasons at ONU, the Tigers won more than 25 games each year and had 10 or more wins in the CCAC.

Benjamin says, "I am honored to be named the head baseball coach at Judson. I have been praying for a place to go too to become a head coach. I am looking forward to moving the Judson baseball program to the next level. Judson is a great place to coach and everybody has been friendly to me from the beginning of the interview process."

As the pitching coach at ONU, he helped mold a pitching staff that was one of the best in the CCAC and the nation. In 2005, the ONU pitching staff had a 3.00 ERA and three to one strikeout to walk ratio. In 2006, his pitchers recorded three shutouts and in 2007 they had a 4.71 ERA. In the 2005 season, three pitchers had undefeated records with one at a 9-0 record. He also had the chance to coach under one of the winningest NAIA baseball coaches in Elliot Johnson. Johnson won his 800th career game in the 2007 season at Olivet.

Prior to Olivet, Benjamin was a student assistant coach at Martin Methodist University in Tennessee. In the 2003 season he helped guide the Hawks to a 37-12 record and to the Trans South and NAIA Region XI championship games. A MMC, he was the hitting, catching and outfielder coach.

Building his coaching skills at camps, Benjamin has worked at several baseball camps. He has been a camp coach at two NCAA Division I programs in Vanderbilt University and the University of Notre Dame. He has also coached at Camp Winadu in Massachusetts as the assistant director of baseball operations.

In two different summers, he has coached in the M.I.N.K. Collegiate Summer Baseball League and the Sandlot Collegiate Summer League. In 2007, he was a part of the M.I.N.K. which is affiliated with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He coached the FCA Grays in Kansas City, Mo., as they won 21 games and was the most wins in team history. The 2005 summer took him to Nashville, Tenn., where he was the pitching coach for the Twitty City Stars.

Benjamin started his collegiate career as a player at Milligan College for two years and then finished his final two years at Martin Methodist. He graduated from MMC in 2004 with a degree in English. He also just finished his Master's of Organizational Leadership at Olivet Nazarene University. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Casey.


 
MarcoFajardo
Assistant Coach

Assistant coach Marco Fajardo enters his third season with the Judson coaching staff. Fajardo has been coaching both locally and nationally for the past 14 years. He owned his own baseball academy, which was part of Charley Lau's School of Hitting. In the fall of 2000 he combined forces with The Chicago White Sox Training Center and since then has been a hitting coach for the organization. He also served as an assistant coach for Guerin Prep High School for two seasons before coming over to Judson. Fajardo also founded, manages and coaches The Chicago Zephyrs, a collegiate summer baseball team.

Coach Fajardo is a graduate of Boston University and Northwestern University. He played four seasons with The Cincinnati Reds Organization. After his professional baseball career he began another professional career as a general dentist practicing in Warrenville, Illinois. Fajardo is a private instructor and consultant to numerous high school, college, professional teams and players. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.


 
ReidHamblet
Assistant Coach
 
Entering his first year as an assistant coach at Judson University, Reid Hamblet comes to Judson after playing three years in the minor league system. Hamblet was drafted in the fifth round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles as a pitcher.
 

Hamblet, from Olympia, Washington, played for the Aberdeen Ironbirds and the Delmarva Shorebirds in Single A. In his minor league career, he won 13 games as pitcher. Last season, he went 9-3 for Delmarva with 67 strikeouts in 30 appearances. In 2006, with Delmarva, he recorded 91 strikeouts in 135 innings pitched.

The standout pitcher from Biola University was a NAIA All-American in the 2005 season while also being named as the NAIA Champions of Character award winner for Biola. In that same season, the GSAC (Golden State Athletic Conference) named him the Pitcher of the Year, was on the All-GSAC team and picked up the GSAC and NAIA Regional Pitcher of the Week once. He won eight games and recorded a 2.92 ERA. Another highlight of his collegiate career came in his freshman season of 2003 when Biola participated in the NAIA World Series.   In three years with Biola, he won 22 games.

In the summer of 2004, Hamblet had a chance to pitch in the Alaskan Summer League for the Alaska Golddiggers. He pitched in eight games while starting seven and led the team with 55 strikeouts.

Hamblet has been married to his wife Samantha for two years and they reside in Chicago.
 

Aberdeen Ironbirds (2006)

Alaska Golddigers (2004)


 
ScottKainovic
Student Assistant

Scott Kainovic will finish his collegiate career as a student assistant coach for Judson. Kainovic finished his eligibility in the 2008 season after two years with the Eagles.

In two years for Judson, Kainovic played in 69 games starting 64. He had eight career doubles and 26 RBI. In his senior season, he batted .320 with six doubles. He also helped Judson to their first, ever, CCAC Tournament Championship and at-large berth into the NAIA Region VII Tournament.

Prior to Judson, he spent two seasons at Oakton Community College. He is a 2004 graduate of Von Steuben High School where he was a three-time All-Conference player in the infield. He was also named to the Chicago Public League All-Star Team that played at U.S. Cellular Field.

He will graduate from Judson in May 2009 with a sports management degree.