Head Coach Rick Espeset

Position: Head Baseball Coach/Director of Athletics
Alma Mater: Gustavus Adolphus
Date of Hire: August 1994
Years Coaching: 16 
Overall Record: 298-168-1 (Eleven Seasons)

Rick Espeset is in his 12th year as the head coach of the baseball program at Manchester. Coach Espeset has led the Spartans to eight of the highest win totals in the 84-year history of baseball at the school. Under the 1998, 2004 and 2006 Conference Coach of the Year Espeset, Manchester has win totals of 22, 28, 25, 22, 31, 31 35, 32 and 33 over the past eight years. The 2004 Spartan team became the first league school in 10 years to win both the regular season and conference tournament titles and went on to advance to the NCAA Division III College World Series. Manchester also won the conference championship in 1999, breaking a 15-year drought without a conference title. They most recently won the HCAC Conference title in 2006.

After completing a master's degree in sport management at Western Illinois University, Espeset moved to Nebraska. While in Lincoln, Rick was an assistant coach at Nebraska Wesleyan University. In Espeset's short time at NWU, the Plainsmen finished in the top 25 nationally in both batting average and slugging percentage. He was appointed as Manchester's new Director of Athletics in August of 2007.

Espeset is a member of the ABCA (American Baseball Coaches Association) and is on the editorial committee for the association's national publication. He also serves on the Mideast selection committee for the Division III national tournament. Besides being an instructor at the Manchester College baseball clinics, Espeset has had the opportunity to work numerous camps throughout the Midwest. Other duties at the College include being the athletic recruiting coordinator.

He and his wife Andrea, reside in North Manchester with son Ethan and daughter McKelvey.

Name: Dan Sprunger
Position: Assistant Baseball Coach
Alma Mater: Manchester College
Date of Hire: August 2007
Years Coaching: 2 

Dan Sprunger joins the Manchester College baseball coaching staff after spending one year as an assistant coach at Franklin College. Sprunger was a four time letter winner for Manchester College's baseball program, compiling a career record 23-4, with 120 strikeouts and an opponent batting average of .258 in 41 appearances. He was part of the top four most winning teams in Manchester College history, including the 2002 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional champions and two HCAC Conference championship teams. He graduated from Manchester College with a degree in Art in May 2006. He will work with the Spartan pitchers this season.