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Kelly Nicholson, Field Manager
Loyola High School of Los Angeles
Hometown: Playa del Rey, Calif.

There are two principal managing styles in baseball. There’s the jaw-clenching, vein-popping, mad-dog style. Then there’s the easy-going, stay calm, we’re-in-charge style. Take a look at the picture to the left and see if you can guess which is Coach Nicholson’s. [Former Assistant Coach Mike Clement, a 2006 recipient of the Hossfeld Spirit Award, is also in the picture.]

Kelly (or Coach K as he's known in the pitching fraternity) is a native of Corona, California where he won numerous scholar-athlete awards in both baseball and basketball while in high school. He was a four-year letterwinner and two-time all-conference pick during his pitching career at Loyola Marymount University. After earning his bachelor's degree in business administration from LMU, he began his career teaching mathematics at Loyola High School of Los Angeles, while completing his master's degree in education from LMU. He was the head coach of the Loyola HS Cubs for eleven seasons, where he led the team to seven playoff appearances and a league title. Kelly then spent three seasons as Loyola Marymount's pitching coach, and each year the Lions won the WCC title and went to the NCAA regionals. In the summer of 2000, Kelly worked with the Team USA pitching staff in its early preparation for international play. Kelly joined Orleans as the pitching coach in 2001. In 2002, Coach K’s staff had a 2.11 ERA (the best ever by Cardinals pitchers) and in 2004 it led the CCBL with a 2.37. His 2003 championship pitching staff was lights out, with a 2.36 ERA and a league-leading 397 Ks in 401 IP.

But now Coach K is the head man. If you’ve got a question about the pitchers, he’ll tell you to “…check with Coach Beck–he’s the pitching coach around here and he’s the best on the Cape.” Co-winner of the Hossfeld Spirit Award with Coach Steve DeBlasi in 2004, Kelly was the unanimous choice of his fellow managers in 2005 for the CCBL Mike Curran Manager of the Year Award after leading the Cardinals to a record-setting 30-win season and the championship. His 2008 squad finished the regular season in first place overall, and Coach K was again named Manager of the Year, but a heartbreaking 1-0, 18-inning loss to the eventual CCBL Champion Harwich Mariners ended the team’s playoff run. Orleans welcomes a true gentleman and a terrific leader back for his ninth summer, his first as a Firebird.

Chris Beck, Pitching Coach
Bishop Amat HS
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.

Chris Beck will begin his fifth summer on Cape Cod as a member of Coach Nicholson’s staff. He serves as the pitching coach for the Firebirds and also helps with player recruitment and day-to-day operations during the summer season. Coach Beck came to Orleans after serving one year as the pitching coach for the Brewster Whitecaps.

Prior to coaching, Chris played collegiate baseball at Loyola Marymount University where he helped the Lions to back-to-back West Coast Conference championships in 1998 and 1999. He then joined the coaching staff at Loyola High School, where he taught world history and coached Cub baseball for six years (2000-05, the last three as head coach). In 2005, he was named Los Angeles Times Coach of the Year after leading the Cubs to a 22-6 record and a Mission League championship. In 2006, Chris returned to Loyola Marymount and served as pitching coach under Head Coach Frank Cruz. For the last three years (2007-09) he has served as pitching coordinator at Bishop Amat High School where he has helped lead the Lancers to two consecutive CIF Championships.

Upon taking charge of Orleans moundsmen in 2005, the team has lead the league in pitching in three of those four years, 2005 (2.22) 2007 (2.79) and 2008 (3.10). In 2005, Coach Beck helped guide the team to a Cape League championship.

Beck earned his Bachelor’s Degree in History from Loyola Marymount in 2000 and completed his Master’s Degree in History from Loyola Marymount in 2005. He has taught World and U.S. History for ten years. Chris and his wife Jayme just bought their first house in Yorba Linda, California. Welcome back, Coach!

Benny Craig, Assistant Coach
Cal State Los Angeles
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.

Coach Craig joins the Firebirds for his first season in Orleans after retiring from professional baseball and completing his first coaching season with the Golden Eagles of Cal State Los Angeles. A native of San Diego, Coach Craig spent the first two years of his collegiate career catching for the UCLA Bruins before transferring to Loyola Marymount for his junior season. He was selected by Cincinnati in the 19^th round of the 1997 MLB draft, and played for the Burlington Bees and Kissimmee Cobras in the Reds’ organization. Following that, he played for several independent teams, including the River City Rascals, St. George Pioneers, Pennsylvania Road Warriors, Long Beach Breakers, Amarillo Dillas (league all star and home run champion), El Paso Diablos, and San Angelo Colts, where he was a player-coach. Coach Craig holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA, and he has worked the UCLA Winter and High School Showcase camps since 2000. Welcome to Orleans, Coach!

Jason Brown, Assistant Coach
Hometown: Long Beach, Calif.

Coach Brown will begin his coaching career with the Firebirds after retiring from a professional baseball career that spanned twelve seasons. A catcher for the Trojans of Southern California, where he played on two Pac 6 championship teams and competed for the national championship in Omaha in 1995, Jason also played two summers in Fairbanks, Alaska. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1997, and since then has played for several major league organizations, including the Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, and most recently the New York Yankees with the International League’s Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees (AAA). The road trips are a lot shorter here, Coach! Welcome to Orleans.

Mike Marron, Assistant Coach

UMass Lowell

Hometown: South Boston, Mass.

We welcome Coach Marron to his first season in Orleans. Mike earned his degree in English with a concentration in Africana studies from the College of the Holy Cross, where he was a four-year player for the Crusaders. After converting from pitcher to catcher, he earned All-Patriot League and team MVP honors as a sophomore, led the team in batting and fielding averages as a junior, and served as team captain as a senior.

Mike played summer ball in the NECBL for the Mill City All-Americans after his sophomore year, and then joined the Lexington Blue Sox the following two summers. After graduation from Holy Cross, Mike began his coaching career at UMass Lowell, and he just finished his fourth season overseeing the Riverhawks’ pitchers and catchers. Coach Marron served as the head coach for the Pittsfield Dukes of the NECBL for the past two summers, earning the Coach of the Year award in 2008. A native of Huntingdon Valley, PA, he now makes his home in South Boston and teaches English at the Molloy Alternative School in Lowell.