Hank Banner - Head Coach
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Office Phone: 276-376-4504 |
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The University of Virginia’s College at Wise baseball team will be in good hands again for the eleventh season under head coach Hank Banner.
The veteran baseball coach guided the 2006 Highland Cavalier team to the program's most wins in the last decade. The Cavs posted a 28-19 mark and posted a win in the AAppalachian Athletic Conference playoffs before falling to two of the top three teams to exit.
The UVa-Wise baseball team lost seven seniors from last year’s squad but will return a solid nucleus to build upon last year’s successes. The infield will return with four starters led by All-AAC shortstop Jorge Laboy (.340, 6 HR, 31 rbi). Senior Andrew Anderson will maintain 3rd base while sophomore Edwin Narvaez moves to his natural second base spot with Matt Begley and Brock Funk at first base.
Junior Matt Hall and his .398 average will handle the catching duties again on a staff paced by All-AAC honoree reliever David Jones, who led the league with 10 saves.
Funk also returns to the mound where he was 7-1 and a 3.58 era. Brandon Horton will again be a workhorse in the bullpen while Mike Lang takes control of the outfield crew in his second year.
The 2005 UVA-Wise team posted 21 victories and at the time the first 20-win season in three years. The Cavs posted a quality year in 2002 where they finished second in the AAC regular season standings.
Banner is a 1992 graduate of UVa-Wise. While a student, the coach was a four-year member of the Cavaliers’ baseball squad and started at second base on the 1989 and 1990 conference championship teams.
His wife, Bridgette, also graduated from UVa-Wise. The couple and their daughter, Brooke, live in nearby Castlewood, Virginia.
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