Cambridge Christian, which has won three region championships in the past six years, announced Tuesday its hiring of Sam Blackmon as head coach after the recent resignation of Sam Marsonek.
Blackmon most recently coached at East Texas Baptist University, an NCAA Division III school, from 2006-12. He was head coach at the University of Dallas in Irving — another Division III program — from 2001-05.
Blackmon has held a number of head coaching positions at the high school level in Texas, including St. Mark’s School (Dallas), Elkhart, Liberty Christian and Bay Area Christian. He led his teams to nine district titles in 10 years, six region appearances and three state tournament berths.
Overall, Blackmon has a career record of 375-280-3.
“I am excited to be here at Cambridge Christian,” Blackmon said in a statement. “This is a place where Christian character is top priority and the baseball tradition is strong, and we want to continue to build on that.”
Marsonek, 34, left Cambridge to work full time with SCORE International Baseball, a Tampa-based training program for local and international players. He will assist in the construction of a complex to “train and minister to players,” he said in a text message Tuesday morning.
SCORE offers showcase camps, tournaments, recruiting services, training programs and Bible studies.
A former star pitcher at Jesuit and first-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers in 1996, Marsonek went 53-28 in three years as head coach at Cambridge. He won two district championships and this spring led the Lancers to their first region title in five years.
Cambridge lost last week to eventual state champion Miami Westwood Christian in the semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament.
On the school’s Facebook page, Cambridge said it planned to host a “meet and greet” for the new baseball coach at 5:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall on campus.
“We have finalized the details on the hiring,” the message read. “He is a fine Christian man and will be a great mentor for our young men. He is also a great baseball man. He has experience as a professional baseball coach, head college baseball coach, and head high school baseball coach.”