Kellen Mitts returns for his fifth season as assistant baseball coach at Mines during the 2015-16 academic year.
Mitts' primary responsiblity is serving as the team's pitching coach and he also serves as the camp coordinator.
In the summers of 2013 and 2014, Mitts served as an assistant coach with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod League.
Under Mitts’ assistance, the 2014 Orediggers set a new program record for conference wins (22) and also recorded the program’s first winning season since the 1999 campaign and just the third since 1983 with a 24-23 record. The squad’s 24 wins during the season are the second-most in a single season in program history. The squad made its season debut in the NCBWA South Central Region poll at No. 10 during the April 28 installment of the poll following and 18-6 record over a 24-game span. The Orediggers advanced to the RMAC Tournament for the third time in as many seasons – the first such time Mines has advanced to the conference tournament in three-consecutive seasons. Mines finished fourth in the RMAC with a .310 batting average, second in fielding percentage with a mark of .961 and second in the league with a 4.98 earned run average, trailing only national runner-up Colorado Mesa in the latter two categories. Sophomore Nate Olinger was named First Team All-RMAC at outfield and pitcher, becoming the lone player in the RMAC to earn All-RMAC accolades at two positions. He was also named Second Team NCBWA All-Region and Second Team ABCA All-Region during the campaign as well. Senior Charlie Basil was named First Team All-RMAC Gold Glove and First Team ABCA All-Region Gold Glove during the season and freshman Cody Marvel was named the RMAC Freshman of the Year. Olinger was named the RMAC Academic Player of the Year, Capital One/CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District and also earned Capital One/CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-American honors while leading a total of eight athletes on the Academic All-RMAC squads. Redshirt junior Ben Gilman earned Mines' male President’s Senior Scholar Athlete Award while also being named First Team Academic All-RMAC as well. Additionally, Olinger also tied Mines' single-season wins record with six victories, while Gilman and sophomore Christian Rooney each notched five wins to tie for the second-most in a single season in program history.
During his second season, Mitts helped guide the Orediggers to a 22-27 overall record and a 16-20 mark in the RMAC. The squad's 22 wins marked just the second time in the past 10 seasons the squad has achieved the 20-win plateau. Additionally, the squad advanced to the RMAC Tournament for consecutive seasons for the first time in program history, including a 6-4 win over No. 2 Colorado Mesa in the first round of the tournament for Mines' win over the highest-ranked opponent in program history. The Orediggers defeated every team on their schedule at least once, including another win over Colorado Mesa when the Mavericks were ranked No. 16 in the nation. The squad also posted a pair of four-game conference sweeps over Adams State and Colorado Christian - becoming the first team in program history to sweep two conference foes in four-game sets during the same season. Mines finished third in the Mountain Division of the RMAC standings for the second-straight season and posted a 1-2 record in the conference tournament before ending the season. During the season, true freshman Nate Olinger was named the NCBWA National and South Central Region Hitter of the Week, while also earning RMAC Hitter of the Week honors as well. Fellow true freshman Christian Rooney was named to the RMAC All-Tournament team after posting 7.2 innings of shutout relief in the tournament-opening 6-4 victory over No. 2 CMU. Sophomore Ben Gilman, Olinger and senior Jordan Williams were all named Second Team All-RMAC, while junior Kyle Wallace was named to the RMAC Gold Glove Team at second base. In addition, Gilman earned a RMAC Pitcher of the Week award as well. In the classroom, Mines put Gilman and junior Charlie Basil on the Second Team Academic All-RMAC squad, while Johnson, Josh Martinez, Corky Patton and Derek Skrdlant were all named to the Academic All-RMAC Honor Roll.
During his first season, Mitts helped the Orediggers to a 17-30 overall record and a 15-25 mark in the RMAC. The squad advanced to the RMAC Baseball Tournament for just the third time in school history, and with a 10-8 win over Nebraska-Kearney, earned just the second postseason win in the history of Mines baseball. He helped junior Bobby Egeberg to NCBWA Honorable Mention All-American honors, just the third All-American honor and first since 1972, in program history. Egeberg was also named one of nine recipients of the Rawlings/ABCA Division II Gold Glove award, the first such award in program history. Egeberg was also named NCBWA First Team All-Region, ABCA First Team All-Region Gold Glove and ABCA Second Team All-Region.
With Mitts' assistance, four Orediggers earned All-RMAC accolades, including First Team honors for Egeberg, Second Team honors for Tyler Phan Thornton and Third Team honors for Blake Dunham and Kyle Wallace. The 2012 Mines baseball squad posted a pair of wins over No. 11 Colorado Mesa on the last day of the regular season to qualify for the RMAC Baseball Tournament.
Prior to his arrival at Mines, Mitts served as an assistant coach at Butler Community College in 2011 and an assistant coach at Emporia State in 2010.
Mitts coached the Emporia Legion Post 5 team to the Kansas Legion State Tournament in 2008. He also served as the Derby Twins pitching coach (2009-10).
Mitts played two seasons (2004-06) at Coffeyville Community College and finished his career as the school's all-time leader in wins and was a team captain. Mitts then transferred to Emporia State (2006-08) and played two seasons serving as a team captain and graduating in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in intergrated studies.
