MIKE FUCHS
Head Coach Blue Wave 10U

Mike is head coach of the Blue Wave 10U baseball team, he also assists our 14U teams as well.

Coach Fuchs attended Kofa high school in Yuma Arizona where he was a four-year starting catcher. He then went on to play ball for a local junior college in Arizona continuing his love for the game of baseball.

His coaching career began in Gilbert Arizona where he coached his son's little league team and all-star teams. He has coached for Blue Wave for the past three years and will continue to manage a truly great team of young talented players.

Mike attended Arizona State University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He loves the game of baseball and enjoys watching his alma mater Arizona State University along with the St. Louis Cardinals when ever he gets a chance.

He is self-employed and runs his business from his home.

LOUIS BALTIERRA
Co-Founder Manager & Head Coach Blue Wave 11U

Louis is co-founder of Blue Wave Baseball and also manager and head coach of the Blue Wave 11U team where helps players to progress and move ahead in their lives.

He has been a supervisor for the California State Department of Rehabilitation for the past 24 years where he gets to help people just as he does coaching.

Louis has been involved in baseball at many levels through out is career. He is a very well-known and likable guy in and around the baseball community. He has served as a member of the Irvine Pony Association Board of Directors for four-years and served as league Commissioner as well.

He has coached with the Irvine Thundercats and the Hurricanes Connie Mack team. He has also coached seven-years for Irvine Pony (winning multiple titles and championships). His most recent title came in 2006 with his 11U Blue Wave baseball team winning it all, taking home the 11U Super Series American Division National Championship.

Coach Baltierra graduated from California State University Dominquez Hills with a Bachelors degree in Theater Arts.

Louis has always had a passion for baseball. He continues to show his dedication and commitment through all his players. Blue Wave baseball is his passion and now his job. There's nothing Louis Baltierra likes better than baseball, unless of course, it's helping someone.

CHARLIE PHILLIPS
Head Coach Blue Wave 12U

Success has followed Charlie Phillips wherever he has played or coached.  Charlie a local orange countian grew up in Garden Grove and has been a fixture in the county ever since.

Charlie was on the first Orange County team to go to the Little League World Series and pitched 2 shutouts and struck out 29 batters in 12 innings. He then followed that with an appearance in the Senior World Series 2 years later.

Charlie went to La Quinta High School where he was player of the year in the Garden Grove league and All Orange County 1st team 2 years and All CIF 1st team 2 years in a row.

Charlie was drafted in the 13th round by the Atlanta Braves but received a full scholarship from USC.  He graduated from USC and was a member of a National Championship team and a member of the USA all-star .Drafted in the 9th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Charlie played 2 years in the organization and then spent 3 years in the Angel organization going as high as AAA and going to Major league camp two times. He was a member of two championship teams in the minor leagues and led the Texas league in winning percentage.

Charlie moved on to be a head coach at the high school, junior college and 4-year level at various schools in Orange County. which included Orange Coast, Saddleback JC’S and Vanguard University, which was Southern California College.  Charlie has had over 55 players sign pro contracts under his tutelage. 

While at Vanguard he coached the 1st female pitcher to win a college game and a complete game at that in her debut. She went on to play pro ball as well.

Charlie has been teaching in the Santa Ana school district for 25 years and has been doing private instruction for 20 years.  He can be contacted for private instruction at the Orange County Strike zone at 949-697-2378 or e-mail at iteachbaseball@yahoo.com

DARRIC MERRELL
Head Coach Blue Wave 13U

Drafted in the 8th round by the Colorado Rockies in 2003, Darric Merrell played five years in the Rockies organization prior to his release and joining Blue Wave as head coach for the 2008-2009 season.

He attend Cal State Fullerton, where he was a standout pitcher under George Horton and Dave Serrano. He was a feshman All-American and runner-up for the 2001 Freshman Of The Year award. During his stint at Cal State Fullerton (2001-2003), he participated in two NCAA College World Series.

Prior to his standout college career, Darric was a four-year letterman at Temecula Valley High School, where he was named CIF Division 1 "Player of the Year" in 2000 and was drafted in the 20th round by the New York Yankees as a senior in high school.

PJ Pilittere
Assistant Coach Blue Wave 13U

PJ is a current member of the New York Yankees and helps coach Blue Wave 13U during the off seasons.

Drafted by the Yanks in 13th round in 2004, he is now playing for New York's AA team based in Trenton, New Jersey.

PJ hit .277 with 101 hits and three homeruns for the Trenton Thunder in 2008, where he serves as the team's starting catcher.

PJ played high school baseball for the La Puente, CA, Lancers and later played for Cal State Fullerton.

 

ARON GARCIA
Head Coach Blue Wave 14U

Aron Garcia is head coach of Blue Wave 14U and specializes in preparing players for high school baseball.

Garcia's 14U teams are consistently competitive and highly ranked every year, he has numerous tournament and league titles to his credit, as well as a 14U national championship in 2009.

Aron is well experienced in playing in national tournaments; he was a member of the 1987 Northwood Little League team that played Taiwan in the Little League World Series.

Aron was also a four-year varsity starter at Irvine High School, where he played short stop. After high school he attended Saddle Back College, where he played baseball and football. He has coached baseball and football since 1996 at Irvine High School, Mater Dei and, currently, Northwood High School.

He offers private lessons in hitting, fielding, and pitching and can be contacted at 562-301-6516.

DAN ELLIS
Head Coach Blue Wave 15U-16U

Dan Ellis skippers Blue Wave Baseball's 15U and 16U teams that are based at Estancia High School, where he also serves as pitching coach and helps run the strength and conditioning program.

Ellis played high school ball at Fountain Valley, where he was first team All-Sunset League pitcher and won the respect from his own teammates by being voted team Most Valuable Player.

After graduating from Fountain Valley in 1998 he went on to Cypress College where he played under current head coach Scott Pickler. After receiving his Associate in Arts degree from Cypress Dan transferred to UC Riverside to continue his playing career under Head Coach Jack Smitheran where he graduated with a Bachelor’s in Sociology.

Coach Ellis learned the game of baseball while experiencing a lot of success by playing for two well-respected programs and seasoned head coaches. Cypress finished the 1999 season as the California State Junior College runner-up and the Highlanders were ranked nationally in ’02 and ’03.

His ’01 season was cut short after season-ending Tommy John surgery. During his comeback from arm surgery Ellis earned Pitcher of the Year honors after playing for the Swift Current Indians in the WMBL Canadian summer league. Ellis decided to hang up his spikes after a brief stint in the Atlanta Braves organization.

He is now a teacher and has coached club baseball for the past several years.

BRANDON THOMPSON
Head Coach Blue Wave 16U

Brandon Thompson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Blue Wave program.

A former division one and professional baseball player, Brandon is a Huntington Beach native hailing from Edison High School representing the class of 1996.

During his playing career, Thompson set an Orange Coast College single season hit record while batting .356 and had 14 home runs and holding down the starting catching duties his sophomore season. Brandon was voted first team All-Orange Empire Conference catcher and earned a scholarship to Cal State Northridge. After transferring, Thompson injured his knee and sat the year out and returned to OCC to coach the catchers and help with the hitters.

In 2002 Brandon transferred to Oklahoma City University where again he earned All-Conference honors after hitting .352 with 14 home runs and 75 runs batted in. OCU got eliminated from the NAIA College World Series after advancing to the Championship Game. Following his collegiate career Thompson returned to OCC for his second coaching stint in three years and helped out the hitters at Newport Harbor High School.

Not quite ready to hang up his spikes for a coach's clipboard, Thompson tried out for the Orange County Flyers in the Spring of 2007, at the age of 28, and made the squad as a pitcher. He got released from the team halfway through the season but got immediately re-signed by the Long Beach Armada, another independent professional club in the Golden Baseball League.

A good communicator and an outstanding teacher, Brandon is a very talented athlete and the kids can see how far he can still hit the ball and what a good arm he has. They respect him.

Brandon works for the city of Costa Mesa and has plans to pursue his teaching credential and career as an educator.

Brandon also provides private lessons and specializes in hitting and catching. He can be reached at (714) 723-1334 or eMail at 33.brandon@gmail.com.

RICH POHLE
Head Coach Blue Wave 18U

Rich is the Head Coach of Blue Wave 18U. He currently plays in the Golden Baseball League for the Orange County Flyers. Rich starts as an outfielder and ranks second on the team in home runs for the 2007 season.

His baseball career started at Buena Park High School where he was first team all conference and an all-star for the Coyote's.

Rich played college ball at Cypress College and also for Fullerton College where he was an outfielder. He has played professionally for the Phillies and Mariners minor league teams.

Rich offers private lessons alongside his father on hitting, fielding, and pitching. He can be reached at (714) 293-6642 or rich_pohle@yahoo.com.

MATT SORENSEN
Head Coach Blue Wave 18U-Connie Mack

Estancia High School head coach Matt Sorensen skipper's a Blue Wave 18U Connie Mack team in his off-season.

Sorensen just completed his first year as head coach at Estancia, serving as Newport Harbor's pitching coach the prior two seasons. Sorensen got his first managerial baseball gig coaching an 18U team for Irvine Blue Wave two years ago.
 
Sorensen is a former college standout player at Cal State Fullerton, where he first demonstrated his leadership abilities as a team captain. At Cal State Fullerton, Sorensen compiled a perfect 17–0 record on the bump over his two year tenure, a team career record that still stands today.

Under the tutelage of George Horton (now the head coach for the Oregon Ducks) and Dave Serrano (Matt's former pitching coach and now head coach at CSUF), Matt considers himself very fortunate to learn the game from two of the most respected coaches in college baseball.

"I'm still in touch with Coach Horton and talk with Coach Serrano and his staff often to ask questions about the details of the game and practice plans and things. I have sat in on practices and scrimmages and all three of those guys (Dave Serrano, Greg Bergeron, and Sergio Brown) give me tips, copies of different charts, and coaching tools. Our whole practice plan, sign systems, offense, and philosophy is based on what I learned when I wore the Titan uniform."

Prior to attend CSUF, Matt posted a record of 12–1 at Cerritos College, which was good enough to earn him All-Conference, All-State, and All-American honors for the Mission Conference champion Falcons and showed enough potential for the Toronto Blue Jays to select him as their 26th round draft pick.

He decided to stay in school and forego his professional baseball career. The Blue Jays drafted Matt again in the 42nd round in the 2000 draft but again chose to stay in school and pursue his degree in Sociology.

Sorensen also had a very successful prep career at Warren High School in Downey and was the San Gabriel Valley League's co-Most Valuable Player and a first team All-C.I.F. utility player on coach Steve Fullerton's championship squad in 1996.

Matt offers private lessons on pitching and hitting. He can be reached at (714) 322-7093

JASON SMITH
Head Coach Blue Wave 18U-Connie Mack

Jason Smith, assistant baseball coach for Irvine Valley College , will skipper Blue Wave Baseball's 18U 2007 Connie Mack team, starting in June.

Jason began his baseball career at Orange High School , where he was team captain and a two-year starter 1988-1990 and was the "Coach's Award" winner.

As a player in college, he helped lead Orange Coast Community College to the state tournament in 1993 and received the "Most Inspirational" award before moving on to Chapman University, where he started, was team captain, and also received the "Most Inspirational" award both years he played (1994-1995).

His coaching career started in 1999, when he was named assistant baseball coach for Orange Coast Community College.

He was head coach of the Orange County Scorpions and led the team to its second consecutive NBC World Series, placing 12th overall, in 2000-2001 and was assistant coach for the team when they placed 16th overall the year before.

As assistant coach at Chapman University in 2000-2002 (also 1995-1999), he was instrumental in helping the team reach the regional playoffs, as well as the College World Series in 1997.

In 2005 he helped take Irvine Valley College to the Super Regional's as an assistant coach.

With a bachelor's degree from Chapman University and a Masters of Physical Education for Azusa Pacific, Jason is the ideal head coach for the Wave as he places great emphasis on speed, agility, and physical conditioning.

In his spare time, he works as a substitute teacher and gives private lessons and training.

BRET LEVIER
Director, Mid-West States, Head Coach Jonesboro, AR 12U

Bret served as a head coach for several Blue Wave teams (14U, 15U, 16U and 18U) the past three years and is now establishing a Blue Wave Baseball in Arkansas, where he recently moved with his wife and baby daughter to finish his college education.

Bret comes from a well-known SoCal baseball family - his father coached high school and college baseball, his brother is with the Okland A's.

Bret's baseball career took off in 2000, when he helped California High School win the Southern Section C.I.F. championship as their starting Short Stop.

He then played four years of college ball at California State University Sacramento where he played infield. A great athlete, Brett was also the place kicker for the CSS football team.

He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Boston Red Sox on June 16, 2004 and was able to reach AA Portland. In June 2005, Brett was named Red Sox minor league defensive player of the month. Bret finished his professional career with the Fullerton Flyers, where he was a star defensive player for two seasons.

Besides coaching high school-level baseball for Blue Wave, Bret was also an assistant varsity coach for Beckman High School in Tustin.

Brett is now located in Jonesboro, Arkansas and can be reached at 870-378-9501 or levi224@hotmail.com.