‘Jacks Baseball Tabs Austin Baker as Assistant Coach
7/11/2025 11:00:00 AM | Baseball
Former DII All-American, Amarillo native joins Vanderburg’s staff for ’25-26 season
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin second-year head baseball coach Matt Vanderburg has announced the hiring of Austin Baker as an assistant coach for the program for the upcoming 2025-26 season.Baker, a native of Amarillo, comes to the Piney Woods by way of Southern Arkansas University where this past season he served as the Muleriders' hitting coach as well as assisted in all aspects of recruiting.
"I'm excited to announce Austin Baker as our new assistant coach for the Lumberjacks," noted Vanderburg. "We are very fortunate to get Austin here to SFA and I believe in the value he will bring to this program. He is a really good baseball mind who will fit in great with our culture, and he believes in the direction our program is going. I'm looking forward to getting to work with him and I can't wait for our team to get here this fall."
In his return to SAU, Baker guided an offense that produced four all-conference performers, finished in the top five in the Great American Conference in slugging percentage, triples, home runs, stolen bases and total bases, and helped the Muleriders win 30 games for the fifth-straight season and for the 24th time since the turn of the century.
"I want to thank Coach Vanderburg for the opportunity to join his staff," remarked Baker. "I couldn't be more excited and thankful to be a part of the SFA baseball program and the SFA community. I'm ready to get to work. Go 'Jacks!"
Baker brings several years of experience in the areas of sports performance, operations and scouting. Prior to joining the staff at Southern Arkansas, Baker held an assistant position with Five Tool Baseball Showcases which saw him staff, organize and operate events, showcases and tournaments in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area in addition to assisting in the scouting of junior college players for the organization.
His start in coaching came with Texas Cannons Baseball where he worked directly with athletes ages 7 through 18 in addition to assisting the organization in the areas of coaching, camps and clinics and practice planning. Baker served as the varsity assistant coach for Trinity Christian Academy during the 2023-24 season and aided in the development of seven student-athletes that continued their careers at the collegiate level.
Following his graduation as an Exercise Science major from Southern Arkansas University in December of 2020, Baker served both as a Baseball Performance Specialist Intern and then as a Physical Therapy & Sports Performance Technician at TMI Sports Medicine in Arlington, Texas. While at TMI, Baker focused on the creation of exercise, throwing and hitting programs to implement a strong biomechanical foundation as well as assisting with strength and conditioning, injury rehab and prevention, and performance enhancement.
Baker's collegiate playing career began in 2017 at Howard College where he played one season with the Hawks. He saw action in 17 of the team's 57 games as a true freshman infielder and hit .346 in limited opportunities. The Texan signed with Southern Arkansas and was rarely limited over his four seasons with the Muleriders. A two-time All-Great American Conference performer, which included first-team honors (2021), all-defensive team recognition (2019) and tournament MVP plaudits (2018), Baker capped his playing career as a consensus all-region honoree and was tabbed an All-American by both the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and the Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association (D2CCA), earning first-team acclaim from the former. Additionally, Baker was a multiple-time recipient of the league's all-academic recognition and he earned Google Cloud Academic All-District first-team honors in 2019.
Statistically, in four seasons in Magnolia, Baker slashed .347/.423/.439, collected 252 hits of which 53 went for extra bases, tallied 94 RBI, scored 176 runs, and delivered 74 walks, 28 hit-by-pitch and 87 stolen bases. Baker fielded at a 97% clip and at the time of his graduation he was one of just two Muleriders to rank in the career top ten in both hits and stolen bases.
FOLLOW THE LUMBERJACKS
For all the latest information on SFA baseball, visit SFAjacks.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Lumberjacks on X, Instagram and Facebook.
"I'm excited to announce Austin Baker as our new assistant coach for the Lumberjacks," noted Vanderburg. "We are very fortunate to get Austin here to SFA and I believe in the value he will bring to this program. He is a really good baseball mind who will fit in great with our culture, and he believes in the direction our program is going. I'm looking forward to getting to work with him and I can't wait for our team to get here this fall."
In his return to SAU, Baker guided an offense that produced four all-conference performers, finished in the top five in the Great American Conference in slugging percentage, triples, home runs, stolen bases and total bases, and helped the Muleriders win 30 games for the fifth-straight season and for the 24th time since the turn of the century.
"I want to thank Coach Vanderburg for the opportunity to join his staff," remarked Baker. "I couldn't be more excited and thankful to be a part of the SFA baseball program and the SFA community. I'm ready to get to work. Go 'Jacks!"
Baker brings several years of experience in the areas of sports performance, operations and scouting. Prior to joining the staff at Southern Arkansas, Baker held an assistant position with Five Tool Baseball Showcases which saw him staff, organize and operate events, showcases and tournaments in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area in addition to assisting in the scouting of junior college players for the organization.
His start in coaching came with Texas Cannons Baseball where he worked directly with athletes ages 7 through 18 in addition to assisting the organization in the areas of coaching, camps and clinics and practice planning. Baker served as the varsity assistant coach for Trinity Christian Academy during the 2023-24 season and aided in the development of seven student-athletes that continued their careers at the collegiate level.
Following his graduation as an Exercise Science major from Southern Arkansas University in December of 2020, Baker served both as a Baseball Performance Specialist Intern and then as a Physical Therapy & Sports Performance Technician at TMI Sports Medicine in Arlington, Texas. While at TMI, Baker focused on the creation of exercise, throwing and hitting programs to implement a strong biomechanical foundation as well as assisting with strength and conditioning, injury rehab and prevention, and performance enhancement.
Baker's collegiate playing career began in 2017 at Howard College where he played one season with the Hawks. He saw action in 17 of the team's 57 games as a true freshman infielder and hit .346 in limited opportunities. The Texan signed with Southern Arkansas and was rarely limited over his four seasons with the Muleriders. A two-time All-Great American Conference performer, which included first-team honors (2021), all-defensive team recognition (2019) and tournament MVP plaudits (2018), Baker capped his playing career as a consensus all-region honoree and was tabbed an All-American by both the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and the Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association (D2CCA), earning first-team acclaim from the former. Additionally, Baker was a multiple-time recipient of the league's all-academic recognition and he earned Google Cloud Academic All-District first-team honors in 2019.
Statistically, in four seasons in Magnolia, Baker slashed .347/.423/.439, collected 252 hits of which 53 went for extra bases, tallied 94 RBI, scored 176 runs, and delivered 74 walks, 28 hit-by-pitch and 87 stolen bases. Baker fielded at a 97% clip and at the time of his graduation he was one of just two Muleriders to rank in the career top ten in both hits and stolen bases.
FOLLOW THE LUMBERJACKS
For all the latest information on SFA baseball, visit SFAjacks.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Lumberjacks on X, Instagram and Facebook.
SFA vs Lamar | Highlights: Lumberjack Baseball
Friday, May 27
Baseball - Stephen F. Austin - 05/17/2016: Stephen F. Austin
Tuesday, May 17
Baseball - Stephen F. Austin - 02/21/2016: Stephen F. Austin
Sunday, February 21
2016 SFA Baseball Preview: Lumberjack Baseball
Friday, February 19
