YVC NAMES KRUEGER AS HEAD BASEBALL COACH

Yakima Valley College has selected Ben Krueger to serve as Head Baseball Coach for the Yaks.  Krueger will formally begin duties immediately.

Krueger brings with him over six years of successful coaching experience at a variety of intercollegiate and club levels.  A former YVC assistant coach in the 2021-22 school year, he had accepted an assistant coaching position at Georgia Gwinnet College, a perennial national championship-caliber NAIA program, in July.  While at YVC last year, his duties included recruiting coordinator, outfield coach and head of data analytics and media.  Kreuger is also an alum of the YVC baseball program, having played for head coach Ken Wilson’s Yaks in the 2010-11 season.

“Yakima holds a special place in my heart.  This community deserves a group as passionate about giving back and setting an example of what the Yaks are,” said Krueger.  “I’d like to thank previous coaches Kyle Krustangel and Cash Ulrich for their efforts the past seven years and Athletic Director Ray Funk and the YVC administration for believing in my ability to lead these young men on and off the baseball diamond.”

A Seattle native, Krueger was an assistant coach for two other NWAC schools—at Everett Community College from 2018-21, serving as the Trojans’ associate head coach and outfield coach and at Shoreline Community College from 2017-18, where he was the recruiting coordinator.  As a club coach, Krueger founded the Benz Baseball program in 2017 and currently serves as the program director of the Benz Boys and Fall Scout team.  Under his direction, over 100 Benz players have moved on to play college baseball.  In addition to his work with the Benz Boys program, Krueger founded the Cascade Collegiate League in 2019 and serves as the league’s commissioner and manager of their showcase team.

Krueger continued his playing career after YVC by playing two seasons at Oregon Tech.  During his time at OIT, he earned his bachelor’s degree in management/marketing while minoring in communications.

“We are very fortunate to have identified such a quality candidate so quickly,” said Funk.  “We strongly believe that Ben is ready for the next step in his coaching career and that is leading his own program.  Most importantly, he genuinely cares about his student-athletes and their experience at YVC.”

Krueger replaces Krustangel, who served as head coach for the Yaks for seven years (2015-22).  During Krustangel’s tenure, YVC went 203-95 and won the NWAC championship in 2016 and East Region titles in 2016 and 2018.