MARTINSVILLE – This coming season, the Patrick Henry Community College baseball team will be welcoming a new head coach.
The Patriots have hired Cody Ellis to take the position after the previous head baseball coach, Jordan Basile, left to take up a coaching position closer to home.
“I am thankful for Coach Basile and the stability he brought to the PHCC baseball program and our student-athletes over the last two seasons,” says Brian Henderson, PHCC athletic director. “I am confident that Coach Ellis will have no trouble building on the great foundation that Coach Basile laid.”
Ellis, a PHCC alumnus, is returning to his roots after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Lynchburg for the past two seasons under coach Lucas Jones (who is also a former PHCC head baseball coach).
When Ellis–a native of Timberlake, North Carolina–played at PHCC, he was an all-region outfielder.
When he moved on to play Division I baseball at Norfolk State University, he earned a second-team All-MEAC honor at second base.
In addition to his coaching duties at the University of Lynchburg, Ellis was an assistant coach for the Keene Swampbats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League and he spent several summers playing independent professional baseball for the Garden City Wind and the Topeka Trainrobbers in the Pecos League.
This summer he also got involved with the USA Baseball’s 16 and under program.
“Coach Ellis is prepared to lead Patriots’ baseball into its next chapter,” said Henderson. “He comes to PHCC with a tremendous amount of support and will be both a great leader and a coach for our student-athletes. I’m thrilled to welcome back Cody to PHCC baseball as he comes to guide the next generation of our baseball players.”
“I am very excited to start this new chapter of Patriot baseball with my family and this new group of players,” noted Ellis. “I am ready to build relationships with the returners and start new relationships with our incoming student-athletes as we commit to winning on and off the field.”
Ellis will officially begin his head coaching duties in August.