By: Spencer Mathis
YHC Media Relations
The Young Harris college baseball team has hired Corley Reynolds as their new assistant coach. Reynolds comes to the Enchanted Valley with playing and coaching experience, a successful two-year stint with the Mountain Lions as a player, and as an assistant coach at the University of South Alabama.
Baseball Head Coach Stephen Waggener says of the newest addition to the coaching staff, "We are excited to welcome Corley back to Young Harris as an Assistant Coach!" Continuing, "Corley knows our program well as he was a member of the 2018 and 2019 teams who were the foundation of rebuilding this program at the NCAA level. Corley was a great teammate and leader in his time here and I am eager to see him now help lead as a member of our coaching staff."
Corley started at shortstop during his two seasons as a player in the Enchanted Valley in 2018 and 2019. Head coach Stephen Waggener was hired prior to the start of the 2017 season, to turn the program around, and he achieved this once he brought his own recruits in. The 2017 season was a steppingstone for coach Waggener and Young Harris, as the team totaled 15 wins in 45 games played.
During the 2017 offseason, Waggener began recruiting and brought in Corley Reynolds to start at shortstop, after playing at East Mississippi Community College the previous season. In 2018, the Mountain Lions nearly doubled their win total from the previous season and finished two games over .500.
That season, Reynolds started all 50 games for YHC, where he finished the year with a .276 batting average, one home run, five doubles, twenty-three runs batted in, and 35 runs scored. In the field playing the six, Corley posted a .915 fielding percentage and put together his best game of the season against the rival Lander Bearcats, driving in three runs for the Mountain Lions.
The next year, Waggener had the Mountain Lions baseball program firing on all cylinders, finishing the season fifteen games over .500. Young Harris College placed themselves on the map once more, as they slid into home plate at the end of the season with 36 wins, compared to just 21 losses.
The Mountain Lions took down USC Aiken in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Finals in St. Augustine, Florida on May 12, 2019. Reynolds drove in the second run of the game for the Mountain Lions offense, and from that point on, they never looked back.
Young Harris also earned a spot in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional, in which they fell to Catawba by a score of 7-5 in the championship game. When the 2019 season concluded, Reynolds had hit one home run, three doubles, and one triple. Corley also had seven more RBIs in 2019, as he finished the season with 30 runs batted in and 35 runs scored. In the field, Corley was consistent once again, finishing the season with a .913 fielding percentage at shortstop. Reynolds also made the Peach Belt Conference All-Academic Baseball Team for his dedication to school off the field.
Corley Reynolds graduated from Young Harris in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in economics. Reynolds began his coaching career at Southwest Mississippi Community College and served there from 2019-20 as the teams infield coach while also assisting hitters and working on recruiting players to their program.
After one season with Southwest Mississippi Community College, Reynolds would move on to the University of South Alabama, where he started off as a graduate assistant during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, where he handled first base duties. Corley graduated from South Alabama in 2022 with a master's degree in sports management. Reynolds would spend the 2023 and 2024 seasons as an assistant coach for the University of South Alabama Jaguars.
Reynolds will join the Young Harris College coaching staff as the teams Recruiting Coordinator, while also working with current hitters and infielders.
Corley Reynolds asserts, "Returning to my Alma mater as a member of the coaching staff at Young Harris is a tremendous honor. Being invited back by my former Head Coach, Stephen Waggener, makes it even more special. I am grateful for the opportunity Coach Waggener provided me to come to Young Harris as a student-athlete and now as an assistant coach."
Reynolds adds, "YHC holds a special place in my heart. As a student-athlete here, I forged unforgettable memories with teammates and family. I was fortunate enough to be part of Coach Waggener's initial two seasons in the Enchanted Valley that included a conference championship and an NCAA regional appearance. I am grateful to once again contribute to the championship culture here at Young Harris."
Reynolds concludes, "I take pride in being a Young Harris alum and eagerly anticipate representing this esteemed program once again in Purple and White."
Commenti