The Brandeis baseball team started their season in Florida at the RussMatt Invitational over the February break. It was their first game with new head coach, Derek Carlson, for the 2016 season. This will be his first season coaching the team. He succeeds Peter Varney, who held the position for 34 years with over 700 wins before retirement.
Carlson is a Brandeis alumnus, graduating in the class of 1991. During his career for Brandeis, he played in the position of catcher, starring as senior captain in his final season. Varney also happened to be Carlson’s coach while Carlson attended Brandeis as a student. During the course of his four seasons playing for the Judges, Carlson earned UAA All-Star selection for three years and Greater Boston League All-Star two times.
Carlson has 13 years of head coaching experience at Roger Williams University, beginning in 2002. At Roger Williams, he achieved 261 wins. The team played in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with Gordon College, Curry College and seven other schools in the Northeast region. Carlson earned four Commonwealth Coast Conference Coach of the Year awards since his tenure in 2002, earned in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2014. Before his coaching career at Roger Williams, Carlson first gained experience working as an assistant coach at Wheaton College for six seasons.
The Judges are currently 3-0 for the season coming off their trip to Florida, scoring 16 runs total over the three games. They were undefeated in the Invitational. Carlson looks forward to seeing the players restore a “winning tradition” to Brandeis baseball. The team will return to Florida to put their winning tradition to the test. They will play in the UAA tournament, playing eight games over eight days in a row. The tournament will include Case Western, NYU, Emory, Washington University and Rochester.
Looking ahead for this season and beyond, Carlson seems optimistic. “Our first goal each year is to compete every day—not just on game day. Compete at every drill, every pitch and every swing,” he says. He and the team are focusing on competing and challenging each other in every practice and in every game and the wins will follow.
Carlson seems to have a positive impact on his new players. Daniel Schupper ’19, a pitcher on the team, says, “His door is always open and you can’t walk by his office without seeing a group of players in there joking around with him. He is a player’s coach and will always tell you that he’ll answer any question you have.”
When comparing the Brandeis baseball teams from Carlson’s time on the team and the team he coaches now, he sees a lot of similarity in competitiveness. “I think it has become more challenging to balance their academic responsibilities along with their athletic responsibilities,” he says.
Baseball is coming off a 13-20 2015 season, finishing eighth in the UAA rankings. The baseball team has a packed schedule ahead of them for the 2016 season. The first home game is against Bridgewater State on March 15 at 3 p.m., two days after their trip to Florida.
