Jermaine Van Buren enters his fifth season as the pitching coach for the Chaparrals. Last season Van Buren saw two of his pitchers earn All-LSC honors, with Chris Shull earning Second-Team honors and Ayden Alger being named to the Third-Team. Shull made an impact on the mound and at the plate for the Chaps. He posted a 4.34 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP in 18.2 innings pitched. Shull held opponents to a .278 batting average in eight appearances. Alger posted a 5.40 ERA in 85 innings of work. He had a 8-2 record in 15 starts. As a pitching staff, LCU posted a 7.09 ERA with a .307 opponent batting average.
In 2022 with the Chaps, Van Buren saw two of his pitchers earn All-LSC honors, with Ethan Coombes earning Second-Team honors and Shandon Herrera earning All-Defensive Team accolades. Coombes led the Chap pitching staff with 71.1 innings pitched and 85 strikeouts. He finished with a 5.05 ERA and a 7-4 record, mainly pitching in a starting role. Opponents hit just .226 against him, which finished tied for the second-best in the conference. Coombes also threw six complete games,tied for the conference lead. Herrera was LCU's only honoree on the All-Defensive Team. The senior was perfect fielding his position, handling 16 chances without an error, with five putouts and 11 assists. On the mound, Herrera finished with a 6.56 ERA in 59.0 innings of work.
During the 2022 season, Van Buren's pitching staff finished with a 6.14 ERA, the sixth-best in the conference. The Chaps finished with six shutouts, tied for the most in the conference and 13th most in all of Division-II. LCU arms allowed a batting average of just .284, and were the only team in the Lone Star Conference to not record a balk in the entire season.
Van Buren's staff vastly improved in 2021 with a full season, recording 379 strikeouts, the fourth-most in the conference, as opponents batted just .283 against the Chaps. Cade Acrey finished the season with an ERA of 3.00, the fifth-lowest in the LSC, holding his foes to a batting average of .259. Meanwhile, Armando Valle painted the strike zone, finishing with 24 batters struckout looking, the second best mark in the conference.
In his first season with the Chaps, Van Buren's team only played 24 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic ending the season early. The Chaps went just 7-17, but Ty Stephenson finished the shortened campaign tied for fifth in the LSC in strikeouts with 42 over 44.1 innings.
Van Buren came to LCU after a two-year stint as the pitching coach at the New Mexico Military Institute after being hired there in September of 2017. In 2019, the Broncos pitching staff racked up 410.1 innings on the mound, allowing just 235 earned runs and averaging 8.82 strikeouts per nine innings.
"Jermaine will be a tremendous asset to this program with his enthusiasm, positive energy, competitiveness and passion for the game of baseball that is evident to anyone who knows Coach Van Buren," Blackwood said.
A native of Mississippi, Van Buren has been in Amarillo more recently as the head pitching instructor at the Amarillo Baseball Academy, helping to build one of the top select baseball programs in the country. In more than seven years with the program, ABA has sent at least 200 kids into collegiate baseball programs. His family includes wife Tiffany and four children – Jermaine (20), Jaden (17), Lara (11) and Karis (3).
Van Buren also has extensive professional baseball experience, spending 12 years in the professional ranks, including two pitching for major league baseball teams. Van Buren was selected in the second round of the Major League baseball draft out of high school in 1998. He made his major league debut in 2005 with the Chicago Cubs and pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 2006, appearing in 16 big league games overall. Van Buren was also very successful in the minor league ranks, leading the league and setting a team record for saves while pitching for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. He won a Pacific Coast League title in 2007 with the Sacramento River Cats and was named to All-Star teams at various levels in 1998, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009.
"His experience in professional baseball under several well-known successful pitching coaches, and his connections and experience in college baseball recruiting were two of the items that stood out the most to me in the hiring process" Blackwood added. "But more importantly, we are excited about his passion to teach and model life skills that support the mission of Lubbock Christian University."
