Sacramento State Athletics

Humboldt County native Reggie Christiansen is joining the staff of the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team for a series of games this summer, it was announced on Thursday.

Christiansen, who has been the head coach at Sacramento State for the past 13 years, will serve as the national team’s bench coach.

Larry Lee, who is the head coach at Cal Poly, will serve as the team’s manager, while Stanford pitching coach Thomas Eager, who has been working closely with former St. Bernard’s star Nick Dugan, will also be on the staff.

“I am excited to represent Sacramento State as a part of the Team USA baseball staff,” Christiansen said in a Sac State story announcing the news. “I just arrived today in Cary, N.C., and can’t wait to wear the USA across my chest and represent our country over the course of the next three weeks.”

And the national team is excited about the addition of Christiansen.

 “We are looking forward to welcoming Brady, Reggie, Thomas, Andy, and José to our 2023 coaching staff,” General Manager of Collegiate and Professional National Teams Eric Campbell said of the staff in a press release. “This staff features some of the best and brightest college baseball coaches in the nation, and we are confident that they will guide our team to a great deal of success this summer. Led by Larry, our staff will offer unparalleled guidance to the top non-draft eligible players in the country.”

During his time at Sac State, which he first joined as an assistant in 2009, Christiansen has enjoyed tremendous success and has established himself as one of the top collegiate coaches on the West Coast.

Christiansen has led his teams to 11 straight seasons of at least 30 wins —  and is the only Division-I coach in the state of California to achieve that — as well as nine postseason appearances and three tournament titles.

Before joining the Hornets, the Ferndale native was the head coach at South Dakota State for four years from 2005 to 2008. 

He was also an assistant coach at Kansas  from 2003 to 2004.

Earlier this year, the two-time Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year picked up his 500th career victory.

According to the story on the Sac State athletic website, 24 of Christiansen’s players have gone on to be selected in the MLB Draft, including at least one player in 10 of the last 11 drafts.

Four of those players have reached the major leagues, including former Humboldt Crab James Outman who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The national team began training camp on Friday and will play the first game of the Stars vs. Stripes series at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, on Sunday. 

A final 26-man roster will then be selected to compete in a pair of five-game series against Chinese Taipei and Japan, with games taking place across the Carolinas from June 30-July 12.