Trinity International University

Shane Gardner was named the 16th head baseball coach at Trinity International University in the summer of 2019.

While his first season was cut short during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Garder coached the Trojans to a 5-11 record. Five players would earn NCCAA Scholar-Athletes honors, while nine earned CCAC All-Academic recognition.

In his first full season with Trinity in 2021, Coach Gardner led TIU to 14 wins, with a pair of NCCAA All-Region selections in Blake Lazaris and Sam Willis. Ten Trojans would be named to the CCAC's All-Academic team, the most in a single-season in program history.

With a continually improving record, Coach Gardner brought TIU to 17 wins in his third season as well as a trio of postseason honors for senior Blake Lazaris. Lazaris was named NCCAA All-Region, CCAC First Team and NCCAA Third Team All-American. Coach Gardner earned his 250^th career win in the final game of the 2022 season.

Gardner joined the Trinity staff after spending the previous eight seasons at Hiwassee College putting together a coaching record of 214 wins and 189 losses, and where raising the bar and setting new program records for the Tigers became the norm. Under his leadership, the Tigers put together five consecutive seasons of 30 or more wins, while making four straight NCCAA World Series apperances from 2016 to 2019. The 2019 Tigers finished the season as the NCCAA Mideast Regional runner-up with a 30-20 record, and ended the season ranked eighth in the final NCCAA national poll.

During Gardner’s time at Hiwassee, the Tigers also set a number of team records on the mound and in the batter's box, including team earned run average (2.71), opposing batting average (.226), and opposing strikeouts per game (6.7) in 2016, as well as team batting average (.324 in 2015), team on base percentage (.455 in 2015), stolen bases (125 in 2017), and runs scored per game (7 in 2015).

While at Hiwassee, Gardner helped coach four NCCAA All-American athletes, as well as 25 All-Mideast Regional First Team and 15 Second Team players. Gardner was also honored in 2016 as the Mideast Regional Coach of the Year, as well as the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association College Coach of the Year.

Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Hiwassee, Gardner worked as an assistant coach for the Tigers, as well as for Loudon High School in Loudon, Tennessee. 

Gardner earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Hiwassee in 2013 while majoring in history. He also earned a Master’s degree in sports management at Missouri Baptist University in 2019.

Raised in Philadelphia, Tennessee, Gardner is married to his wife Carri, and has one son, Wyatt.
 

The Gardner File

* The 2020 season was canceled on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CCAC conference games were not played.