Veteran manager and former Victor RailRiders head coach Dan Shwam to lead Red Wings in 2017.
GENEVA, N.Y. – The Geneva Red Wings are pleased to announce that former Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) Coach of the Year Dan Shwam has been named the team’s head coach for the upcoming 2017 season.
“I am really excited to join Geneva,” Shwam said. “I always thought Geneva had the opportunity to be really successful. I am confident we can bring more energy and more fans to the ballpark with a good brand of baseball to present to them.”
When asked about returning to the PGCBL, Shwam added “I think the league offers a lot of opportunities for these college kids to get better and the level of competition in the league is really good. The PGCBL has the potential to grow and be one of the most powerful leagues on the East Coast.”
In Shwam, the Red Wings have one of the most experienced bench bosses in the country. With him, he brings over 30 years of coaching and managerial experience and five professional championships. Throughout his 21 seasons in indy ball – 16 as a manager – he built a legacy as one of independent baseball’s all-time winningest skippers with over 650 victories.
Most recently, the Salt Lake City, Utah, resident spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons as head coach of the Victor RailRiders. In the club’s inaugural season, he guided the RailRiders to a West Division Championship and a berth in the PGCBL Championship Series. As a result, he was crowned the 2015 PGCBL Coach of the Year. Last summer under Shwam’s tutelage, Victor ace Brennen Smith (Canisius) paced the league with 52 strikeouts and earned co-PGCBL Pitcher of the Year honors.
It was the second time that Shwam coached a player to the PGCBL’s Pitcher of the Year award. Prior to joining the RailRiders, he spent the 2013 season at the helm of the Cooperstown Hawkeyes, where his work with Eann Cox (Black Hawk College) helped the Hawkeye hurler garner the year-end accolade.
Before his time in Cooperstown, Shwam served as head coach of the Elmira Pioneers for three seasons, beginning in 2010. That year, he was named the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) Coach of the Year after leading Elmira to a West Division pennant. It was his second stint at Dunn Field, as the veteran manager spent three of his professional seasons with the independent Elmira Pioneers of the Northeast League from 1997 to 1999. In his first season, Shwam guided the Pios to the Northeast League championship.
His other championships came in 2003 with the Jackson Senators of the Central League and in his final professional season in 2009 with the Alexandria Aces of the Continental Baseball League. Shwam’s coaching career began as an assistant with the Salt Lake City Trappers in 1987, the year the franchise established a professional baseball record with 29 consecutive wins, known famously as “The Streak.” During his five seasons with the Trappers, the independent minor league team captured two Pioneer League titles.
The Geneva Red Wings are entering their 15th season of competition and their second in the PGCBL, the premier summer collegiate baseball league in the state of New York and one of the of the most competitive wood-bat leagues in the nation. Season tickets for the 2017 season at McDonough Park are on sale now. For more information, please contact General Manager Bill Kohberger at 607-739-4399 or by email at info@genevaredwings.com.
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