After 40 years of coaching High School Baseball, Andrews’ Head Baseball Coach Rodney Gardner is hanging it up. Coach Gardner has accumulated 725 wins over those 40 years, coaching 7 years in New Mexico, 13 years at Lubbock Estacado, 6 years at Abernathy and the last 14 years at Andrews.
Gardner has led the Andrews Mustangs to the postseason in all 14 seasons as their Head Baseball Coach. In 2009, Coach Gardner and the Mustangs made it to the State Tournament, losing in the State Semifinals to eventual State Champion Carthage 4-3, a game that was tied going into the 7th inning.
I have had the pleasure of knowing and observing Coach Gardner the last 10 years. My son played at Midland Greenwood and we were in the same district as Andrews his junior and senior seasons. And for the 7 years that I ran the 3ABASEBALL.COM website, I saw them in the playoffs for one or more series almost every one of those years since they were only 40 miles away from Midland. I also saw them play each year in the Tournament of Champions in Midland, playing and competing well and many times winning against the larger division schools.
Here are my observations and appreciation of Coach Gardner over the last 10 years:
• No one could pull off the sneaky pick off attempt at 2B like Coach Gardner and the Andrews Mustangs. Year in and year out, with different players, Andrews had that play down with precision timing.
• Coach Gardner was a master at getting a run home when he needed it most. Whether it was a sacrifice bunt, stolen base, double steal , hit and run, Coach Gardner had his teams equipped to do what was needed to get that one run home.
• Coach Gardner was never intimidated by teams with more talent or more headlines. When Brownwood was able to get a one game playoff series against Andrews in the 2009 Regional Finals with 1st Round Draft pick Shelby Miller on their team, everyone outside of Andrews had all but written Brownwood’s name in as the Region 1 representative at State. But Coach Gardner had his team sit on Miller’s 93 mph fastball and make him throw the curveball for strikes. It worked and Andrews ended up in the State Tournament.
• Coach Gardner finished with 725 wins in his career. But he filled his preseason schedule with larger schools, playing in the large school tournaments in Midland and Lubbock, preparing his teams for the playoffs. Had he played more schools the same size as Andrews he likely could have reached 800 wins.
The Texas High School Baseball website recognizes Coach Rodney Gardner for an outstanding career and wishes he and his wife Vickie all the best in their retirement.
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