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After a season as assistant coach, Cole Farmer took the reins in fall 2012 as head coach of the Cyclones baseball team, and he’s ready to take them to a new level of professionalism. Farmer hails from southern Missouri, where for three years he coached Springfield Catholic High School and in that time went to the final four. He also conducted camps and was a hitting instructor at Extra Innings indoor training center. Farmer worked with a variety of professional players and Dick Birmingham, who coached the junior all-USA team. In 2005, Farmer played ball at the College of DuPage—ranked third in the country—before attending Evangel University (Missouri) and eventually graduating from Missouri State University. In between, he played a year of arena football with the American Professional Football League’s Springfield WolfPack. Although Farmer is young, he has studied the game and has big plans for the Cyclones. “Last year we lacked professionalism all around, and I want to build it as we progress. We can’t get the right players and staff we need to progress without it. I want Moraine Valley players, through our professionalism and not just wins and losses, to go to four-year institutions and play in the NCAA. I don’t want them to be done after two years here. I want them to continue on to a good school. I know what it’s like to be a junior college athlete and the challenges to play further at the Division I level. I want these players to work hard on the field and in class,” he said. “I’m young, but I think I have a leg up on how the game has progressed. I’m a student of the game, and I’m getting more local recruits. We can build a great program with locals.” As for his coaching style, Farmer intends to take the run-and-gun approach, focusing on aggressiveness and putting the trust in players to make sound decisions on the field. “I want aggressive play. If a player is thrown out at home trying to score the winning run, then that’s okay because he was aggressive,” he said. Farmer has a bachelor’s degree in multi-media journalism from Missouri State University.
Alain Quijano joins the coaching staff as an assistant in 2013, bringing years of both playing and coaching experience to the team. His father was the head baseball coach at Des Moines Lincoln High School where Quijano attended before pitching for two years at Marshalltown Community College (Iowa), earning all-region both years. He signed with the University of Missouri but instead played two years at Grand View University (Iowa) where he tied the team record in wins (42), won 16 games in two years as a starter and was an all-conference player in 2004. Quijano was a student assistant coach at Grand View University in 2006 before becoming a graduate assistant at Lincoln Memorial University (Tennessee) from 2007 to 2008. Returning to Grand View University as pitching coach in 2010, Quijano helped the team turn around a 17-28 record in 2009 to 29-20 in 2010 as well as coaching the team to a third place ranking in the NAIA for walks allowed per game (in nine innings) and fourth for walks allowed. The 2010 team was the Midwest Collegiate Conference (MCC) co-champion and MCC tournament champion. In 2011, Quijano was the pitching coach at Iowa Wesleyan College. As a player, Quijano played seven professional seasons compiling more than 300 innings with five different teams and three leagues. He was a member of the Frontier League’s Windy City Thunderbolts 2008 championship team. Quijano has a bachelor’s degree from Grand View University (Iowa) and master’s degree in Education Administration from Lincoln Memorial University (Tennessee). |
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