Team

Coach Bio

Phone

Email

Alton

Chad Opel
Chad Opel is in his 3rd season as the Alton Indians Coach in the Metro Collegiate League. He is from Edwardsville, Illinois but currently resides in Bethalto, IL. Opel had a very strong playing career starting out in high school where his team was State Champions in 1998. He also played Legion baseball where his team was National Champions in 1998 and he was named the National Player of the year and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He continued his career at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville where he was an All-American in 2001 and GLVC Conference Player of the Year in 2002. His team finished 5th  in the College World Series in 2001, and he is the only player in Division II to have over 300 hits with a wood bat. He graduated from SIUE with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology and spent two and a half years with the Baltimore Orioles but had to retire due to an injury. He has coached as an assistant for Rend Lake College, head coach for Bethalto Legion and field manager for Bluff City Bombers. He enjoys golf, hunting, and hanging out with his family which includes his wife Kathie and dog Tino.

618.977.8937

click to email

Ballwin

Ric Lessmann
Ric Lessmann is the current Head Coach at Washington University in St.Louis. 2008 was is 15th season as the WU coach. He has coached for 44 years, 27 of them being at St.Louis Community College at Meramec. Lessmann built his career at Meramec becoming the nation’s third winningest junior college coach, never experiencing a losing season. Lessmann is a 1991 inductee into the NJCAA Baseball Hall of Fame and a 1992 inductee into the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. A graduate of St.Louis’ Southwest High school, he was drafted by the New York Yankees in 1955 and reached the B level in the minor league. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harris Teachers College in 1960 and a master’s degree from WU in 1963. Lessmann has coached youth-league summer teams for 15 years and has been making regular appearances on the KMOX 1120 AM broadcast of “Sports on a Sunday Morning,” with Ron Jacober for the last 12 years. Ric and his wife Jackie have two children, Scott and Tracy.

314.935.5945

click to email

Bridgeton

Ken Reitz
Ken Reitz, a former St.Louis Cardinal, is the Bridgeton head coach this year. Ken hails from San Francisco, but now currently lives in St.Charles, Missouri. He spent four years in the minor league before making it to the majors. He spent eight years with the Cardinals and one year with the Chicago Cubs. Reitz played with Lou Brock and Bob Gibson, and he also earned a Gold Glove while playing. He was a starter in the 1980 All-Star Game and is a member of the Northern California Sports Hall of Fame. He also caught Hank Aaron’s last out at Busch Stadium. He played golf on the Celebrity Players Tour for ten years but is currently the Cardinals promotions coordinator for Sunday games on Channel 5. He has two children, Corrie and Brett, and two grandchildren, Nick and Kate.

636.751.9257

click to email

Clayton

Bryan Brown
Bryan Brown, a native of St.Louis and graduate of Parkway West High School is currently the Junior Varsity coach at Lindenwood University. He started there in the 2008 season and will continue for the 2009 season. HE is also in his third season as the Clayton High School coach. His college career started out at Forest Park Community College and then continued at Washington University in St.Louis under Ric Lessmann, another Metro Collegiate Coach. After graduating from WashU with a Communications and Journalism Degree, he was the Hitting and Infield coach at Forest Park CC. Including coaching, he enjoys time with his family, video technology for baseball and computers.

314.550.6766

click to email

Kirkwood

Scott Goodrich
Scott Goodrich, a native of St.Louis, is currently the assistant coach at Meramec Community College where he has been working for six years. Goodrich played collegiate baseball at Harris Stowe State College and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education with an emphasis in math. He was named an NAIA Academic All American during his career. He also earned a Masters Degree in education in athletic administration. He began his coaching career while working with the Kirkwood American Legion team. He has also coached at Harris Stowe State College and Lindbergh High School. He enjoys golf and hockey. And with his wife Marci, he likes to watch his two children, Madison and Morgan, play softball, soccer and basketball.

314.803.8409

click to email

Manchester

Rick Fiala

314.650.5678

click to email

St. Charles

Patrick Evers

314. 221.9741

click to email

Wildwood

Gus Lombardo
Gus Lombardo started his baseball career at St.Louis’ own CBC High School. He then attended Meramec Community College for two years and was named to the All Tournament Team both years. He then went on to Southwest Missouri State University (Missouri State University) and was named All Conference both years. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing with a journalism minor. Lombardo has been an assistant coach at Maryville University and a head coach at Webster College. He also coached in the Metro Collegiate League for two previous seasons and in one season they went undefeated in league play. He also had the opportunity to coach Ryan Howard, Mark Buerhle and Steve Collier. Gus and his wife Jacklin have three children, Torrey, Ashley and Bret.

636.536.1775

click to email