Skip to content

BASEBALL INSTRUCTION WITH TONY KESTRANEK

Tony Kestranek 

Tony Kestranek has been a part of collegiate baseball for over eighteen years as a player and coach.  He played at Rend Lake Junior College where he was a first team All Great river Athletic Conference second baseman and All Region 24 selection. Following his two years at Rend Lake he committed to play at Austin Peay State University (APSU) in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) where he was an All OVC second base selection.

In 1990 he started his collegiate coaching career as a student assistant coach at APSU and then followed up the next year as a Graduated assistant coach while completing his master’s degree in wellness and physical education.  The next two years were spent as the assistant baseball coach at Lincoln Trail Junior College in Robinson, IL.

In 1994 he was hired as the Head baseball coach and Athletic Director.  During his 6 years tenure he was responsible for the school’s first ever sectional title and first Region 24 tournament appearance where they were runners up. Under his tutelage 4 players were selected in the Major League Baseball (MLB)draft and over 30 players went on to play Division I baseball.

In 2000 he joined the Indiana University baseball staff as the recruiting coordinator and hitting coach while working with infielders and catchers.  During his 4 year stint at IU, the baseball team went to back to back Big Ten Tournaments in 2001 and 2002, developed 6 MLB drafts, 1 Big Ten player of the year, 1 All-American and in 2002 the Hoosiers ranked 12th in the nation offensively.

Tony was a board member of the Smithville Diamonds for five years three of which were as  the president of the board. During that time he has been a coach in the Smithville League, for the Scrappers travel team and most recently coach of the 2019 16U Diamond Dynamics travel team.