Meet the coaches
MIKE PONIO gm: 13u
- Mike grew up in SoCal and graduated from San Marcos High School in 1985 where he earned many accolades including the California Coca Cola Player of the Year (1983, 1984, 1985). He accepted a full scholarship to the University of Hawaii where he earned 1st team Freshman All American honors as a starting pitcher. He then played at Palomar Junior College where he earned 1st team PCAC as a pitcher and was drafted by the Oakland Athletics. He turned down professional baseball to accept a full scholarship at the University of Oklahoma where he pitched for two seasons in the Big 8 Conference. For the second time Mike was drafted this time by the Cincinnati Reds. After careful consideration, he chose to end his playing career
- In 2003, he founded the Oklahoma Cardinals, which today is known as OC BASEBALL. He has coached and mentored teams ranging eight through 14 years old with the goal of teaching structure and overall skills that provide the opportunity to play high school, college, and/or professional baseball. Mike has instructed for over 25 years and teaches not only baseball lessons, but also lessons in life..
Ryan Senters: 9u
- The 2024 Season will be his 2nd year with OC and his first year as a Head Coach. Ryan brings 5 years of coaching and umpiring experience. With his umpiring experience, it will bring a great prospective not only to his 9U team, but all of OC BASEBALL. Ryan played High School Baseball in Austin, Texas.
- The overall goal for 9U is to begin to understand the game of baseball, to provide a structured and competitive environment for his team to grow not only as baseball players, but young men. Ryan is excited to share his vast baseball knowledge, teaching the proper structure and development while setting those important fundamentals to build confidence in themselves on and off the field.
Dakota Britton: 10u
- Dakota will be the coach for the OC 10U team for the 2024 season. This will be his third year as head coach for OC Baseball and his fourth year coaching with the Club. He has coached competitive youth baseball as a head coach for two years and as an assistant for six years.
- He played competitive baseball growing up and throughout High School. He grew up in Skiatook and graduated from Claremore High School in 2009. He also attended Northeastern State University and graduated from there with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2014.
- The overall goal for my team is to provide a structured and competitive environment for these boys to learn the game of baseball. My goal for each player on the team is to grow and develop their baseball knowledge and to build confidence in themselves and their teammates. I want each of them to love the game and carry these skills throughout their years of playing baseball.
Lantz Day: 10u
- I grew up playing ball in Tulsa. I started at Tulsa Little League. Then, I played in Union Kids Baseball and eventually made my way into competitive baseball and played at Bear Baseball. After Bear I was old enough to play high school baseball for Union High School. While playing high school ball, I was exposed to several coaching styles and techniques I incorporate on my coaching today. I have coached 5 year olds through 11 year players. I have coached for Tulsa Little League and Jenks Youth Baseball.
Coaching Philosophy:
- When it comes to coaching, I believe that we need to focus on basic fundamentals of the game as well as the strategic advantage sound, detail oriented players. Baseball is referred to as the game of failure. Since the best to ever play barely reach a 40% success rate at the plate, never complete an error free season, and strike out well more often than homer, mental toughness and a short memory of mistakes is a must. Baseball is a great educational tool for more than just the game itself. It will allow kids to experience 1:1 competition in a way that forces action. If you are on the mound, you have no choice but to throw a pitch. You cannot run out to the clock or maintain possession. As the hitter, you are promised an opportunity to hit, or a free pass to run the bases. We will learn every position this season and focus on the pitcher. Learning what it takes to command the mound leads to better understanding of the game as a whole. It will also lead to better hitting. You will understand the mindset of the pitcher while at the plate improving your ability to hit. I do my best to meet each player at their skill level and improve their abilities as quickly as I can. The focus placed on game strategy and sound fundamentals (e.g., bunt coverages, reading pitchers, proper leadoffs, proper baserunning, in-game decision-making) will allow for more success against teams focused on showcasing individual talent.
Ryne Sherman:11u
- Ryne played club baseball as part of the Olympia Progressive Baseball Association (OPBA) in central Illinois from age 12-19. He played varsity baseball at Olympia High School, graduating in 2002. Ryne was captain of the 2002 team that went 38-1, winning the Class A state championship.
- He played NCAA Division III baseball at Monmouth College until 2004 and was an assistant coach for the OPBA organization until he graduated in 2006. Since moving to Tulsa in 2017, Ryne has been an assistant coach for teams in both Tulsa little league and Jenks youth baseball. In 2022 Ryne was an assistant coach for the OC 10u team.
- I believe that athletics provide essential lessons for young people to develop into citizens and leaders in their communities as adults. These lessons include being part of a team, handling pressure, overcoming adversity, dealing with failure, being humble about success, competing with integrity, leading others, and the value of hard work. Baseball offers first hand opportunity to learn from these experiences and I make that an important part of my coaching. In terms of baseball, my goal is first and foremost to have fun. I want to end the baseball season with every player wanting to come back and play again next season. Second, I want every player to develop as much as possible towards their own goals as a player. In this regard, I believe that every player should learn every position, especially pitcher. Understanding each position is critical to becoming a complete baseball player.
TYler Robinson: 11u
- Tyler Robinson played at the High School level in Kansas, along with playing on highly competitive showcase teams which advanced him to play American Legion baseball. After high school Tyler received offers for JOCO and NAIA schools in Kansas.
- He spent the last 10 years coaching from Ages 5 to 13u and his goal is to use the love of the game, to develop each player to be better versions of themselves from day 1. For each player know their value as a person but also as a teammate. To compete at a high level.
Craig Urich: 13u
- Craig graduated from Aubrey High School in North Texas where he played Baseball and Football, earning All-State honors in his Junior and Senior seasons as pitcher
- He was a two-sport athlete playing both football and baseball at Ranger College. Craig’s coaching experience has spanned over two decades developing and mentoring athletes from youth to the college level.
- Areas of expertise include hitting, pitching, catching, and fielding. His passion and love of the game is what drives him to teach young athletes not only to become great baseball players but also how to become great young men.
Josh Rogers: 14u
- Josh Rogers will begin his 2nd year as a coach with OC. Along with OC he is a coach at Jenks High School where he specializes in catching and hitting. He grew up in Lakewood, Colorado and attended Green Mountain High School where he was a 3 year Varsity starter and also a 2014 Colorado 4A State Champion. From High School he moved to California to play JUCO Ball for Victor Valley College which is in a powerhouse conference in Southern California.
- After his time there he got an opportunity to continue my baseball career at Fisher College in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts. While at Fisher he was blessed to have Malcom Cepeda (son of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda) as his coach and also got to work with the Clemente family and did some volunteer work with the Roberto Clemente foundation.
- He graduated from Fisher in 2020 and because of Covid it forced him back to Oklahoma which turned to be a blessing in disguise and helped start this wonderful coaching journey.
dustin west: oc elite DIRECTOR
- Dustin West graduated from Collinsville High School in 2003. As a Junior, he played on the American Legion National Championship team as well as earned a spot on the Sunbelt Classic Team. He was also named to the Sooner State high school All Star NE region team, and was awarded MVP.
- After graduation, Dustin signed to play at Mid-America Christian University where he was a starting pitcher and 1st baseman.
- Once he completed his collegiate career, he began his youth and high school coaching career in 2007. To date, Dustin has coached and mentored several hundred baseball and softball athletes with ages ranging from six through high school.