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1140 W. Mission Rd.
San Marcos, CA 92069
(760) 744-1150 X 2460
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Athletic Director:
John Woods
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Baseball

Buck Taylor

Head Coach

Begins 12th year at Palomar (7th as head coach) in 2012

A.A., MiraCosta College, 1992; B.S.,San Francisco State University, 1995, M.A., Azusa Pacific University, 2001

Buck Taylor will be entering his 12th season on the Palomar baseball staff and his seventh season as head coach in 2012. During the 2011 season, Taylor guided the Comets to another Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championship, with Palomar winning the title by a three-game margin over runner-up San Diego Mesa. The Comets had a  28-13 win-loss record and made their fifth trip to the Southern California community college regionals in his tenure as head coach.

Palomar won a best-of-three series from East Los Angeles in the first round of the regionals before being eliminated in the Super Regionals.

Taylor's Comets have won three conference titles in his six seasons as head coach. He was named the American Baseball Coaches Association / California Community College Athletic Association state baseball Coach of the Year for 2008. He's also been honored as Pacific Coast Conference baseball Coach of the Year in 2006, 2009 and 2011 and was selected as PCC Coach of the Year for all  men's sports for the 2008-09 academic year.

Taylor has a six-year record of 170-96 as Palomar's head coach, an average of 28.3 wins per season. He became the first coach in the history of the Pacific Coast Conference to be named Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in his initial season, in 2006, and he recorded his 100th victory on March 14 of 2009 when the Comets defeated Mt. San Antonio 5-3 at Mt. SAC.

He has one of the best records in the nation on the community college level for sending players on to the four-year college level and professional baseball.

Taylor formerly was associate head coach on Bob Vetter's staff. During that time period, the Comets captured three PCC titles and, in 2005, won the conference title, the Southern California Super Regionals and advanced to the California Community College Final Four in Fresno, finishing as runners-up in the state to Santa Rosa.

Taylor originally joined the Palomar staff as catching coach and also has served as pitching coach, was elevated to associate head coach and ran the offense on Vetter's staff.

Prior to coming to Palomar, Taylor was an assistant coach and later co-head coach at his alma mater, San Francisco State University, from 1995-2000.

Taylor played and managed  professionally in Vienna, Austria, for the Vienna Lions, guiding the Lions to a championship in 1996. He also was an assistant coach for the Austrian National Team. He played two seasons at San Francisco State as a catcher and middle infielder. Prior to that, he played on the community college level at Rancho Santiago (now Santa Ana College) and for the late John Seeley at MiraCosta College. He prepped at Carlsbad High School, helping the Lancers to a CIF-San Diego Section championship in 1989.

Taylor currently is an associate scout for the Baltimore Orioles and member of Palomar's full-time faculty as an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Health and Recteation.

Taylor received his M.A. degree in physical education and sports administration from Azusa Pacific University, his B.S. degree in kinesiology from San Francisco State ind his A. A.. degree from MiraCosta College.

Taylor and his wife, Natascha, have two daughters, Finley and Avery, and reside in Temecula. Taylor enjoys surfing and playing golf.

e-mail: ctaylor2@palomar.edu


Ben Adams

Associate Head Coach, Recruiting Coordinator

8th year at Palomar in 2012

 

A.A., Big Bend (Wash.) Community College, 1996; B.S., Eastern Oregon University, 1999; M.A., Western Michigan University, 2001

Ben Adams will be entering his eighth season as an assistant coach for Palomar baseball. He serves as Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator and works with the Comets' infielders and hitters, running the team along with head coach Buck Taylor in games and practices.

Adams has a been a member of the Palomar baseball staff since 2005, when he coached under Hall of Fame head coach Bob Vetter in Vetter's final season. Palomar advanced to the state community college championship game that season, losing to Santa Rosa in the finals.

Prior to Palomar, Adams was Assistant Head Coach at NCAA Division I Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, from 2001-2004. Adams also coached in the Division III ranks at Kalamazoo College (1999-2000). Adams has worked numerous baseball camps at Stanford University, the University of Kansas, and Western Michigan University.

Adams began his collegiate playing career at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Washington from 1994-1996. He received an AA degree from Big Bend in 1996. Adams then moved on to Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande, Oregon where he played from 1997-1999.

He earned a B.S. degree in health / physical education from Eastern Oregon  in 1999 and received an M.A. degree in physical education from Western Michigan University in 2001.

Adams also serves as an adjunct physical education instructor at Palomar.


Troy Afenir

Assistant Coach / Bullpen Coach

3rd year on Palomar coaching staff in 2012

Troy Afenir, who came out of Palomar to play catcher in the Major Leagues with the Houston Astros, Oakland A's and Cincinnati Reds, joined coach Buck Taylor's Palomar coaching staff on Sept. 21,  2009.

Afenir broke into MLB on Sept. 21, 1987 with the Astros and played his final Major League game for the Reds on July 10, 1992. An outstanding defensive catcher, he made only one error in 192 chances in limited action in the Major Leagues and had a .992 career fielding percentage.

He was one of four brothers who played baseball for the Comets and then went on to play either NCAA Division I baseball, professional baseball or both. Older brother Steve Afenir, an outfielder for the Comets and now head coach at Escondido High School, was Troy Afenir's teammate on Palomar's 1982 team and went on to play for the University of Wyoming. Younger brother Ricky Afenir played third base for the Comets and for BYU. Younger brother Tom Afenir caught for both Palomar and for the University of Mississippi and later played in the Cleveland Indians farm system.

Troy Afenir was the second player taken in the nation in the old Winter draft (by the Chicago Cubs) in January, 1982, prior to his freshman season at Palomar. He later was drafted by the Cubs again and then by the Houston Astros, in the first round of the June 1983 supplemental draft following his sophomore season. He turned down a scholarship from Oral Roberts, his No. 1 four-year college choice, to sign a professional contract.

Afenir was a California Community College all-state selection and a community college All-American under Hall of Fame coach Bob Vetter for the Comets as a sophomore in 1983. He still ranks fourth in home runs on Palomar's all-time single-season list (13 in 1983), is tied for first on the Palomar list for home runs in conference games (10, also in 1983) and is fifth on Palomar's career home run list (16, in an injury-shortened freshman season in 1982, and his sophomore season of 1983).

Afenir is married to the former Kim Carter, who played softball at Palomar under coach Mark Eldridge. Their daughter, Ashtynn, is a graduate of San Pasqual High School and graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor's degree in Art. The couple's son, Audie, a catcher / first baseman, will return for his second season with the Comets in 2012. He was an All-Pacific Coast Athletic Conference first-team selection as Palomar's starting first baseman in 2011, when he had a 1.000 fielding percentage. Palomar's starting shortstop,

Troy Afenir is the uncle of Ty Afenir (Ricky Afenir's son), Palomar's starting shortstop in 2010 and currently the starting shortstop for the University of Washington. Another of Afenir's nephews, Buck Afenir (son of older brother Steve) was the starting catcher for the University of Kansas and played in the New York Yankees farm system.


Rich Graves

Outfield Coach; First-Base Coach

6th year at Palomar in 2012

 

A.A., College of the Sequoias; B.S., Fresno State University, 1972; M.A., University of LaVerne

Rich Graves iwill be in his sixth season on the Palomar staff in 2012 after 32 years at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside and Riverside Poly High School. winning 426 games as a head coach and 10 league championships. Under Graves, the M.L. King Wolves and Riverside Poly Bears made 20 CIF-Southern Section playoff appearances. Graves' 1998 Poly team was Southern Section runner-up. At Poly, Graves coached Greg Myers, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1984 who went on to play 19 years in the Major Leagues with the Blue Jays, California Angels, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A's.

Graves, a San Diego native who began his high school baseball career at Lincoln High School and later played for Morse High School, played baseball on the community college level at College of the Sequoias, served a stint in the U.S. Air Force and earned an A.A. degree from COS, a B.A.degree from Fresno State and an M.A. degree from the University of La Verne. He's been as associate scout for the Kansas City Royals since 1993 and, prior to that, was an associate scout for the San Francisco Giants.

Graves and his wife Barbara live in Oceanside. Son Ryan Graves played Division I college baseball for Loyola Marymount University and Oklahoma State and currently is the pitching coach at the University of Kansas.


Sean Rees

Pitching Coach

3rd year in second stint at Palomar in 2012

Sean Reese, a first-team All-American pitcher for Arizona State University in 1990, began his second stint as the Comets' pitching coach in 2010. He replaced Tyler Kincaid, who stepped down as the Palomar pitching coach after the 2009 season to accept a position as the pitching coach at the University of San Diego.

The left-handed Mission Bay High School product pitched for the Sundevils during the 1989, 1990 and 1991 seasons and was selected as Pac-10 Player of the Week six times, setting an ASU school record. In his most memorable performance for the Sun Devils, he struck out 17 batters against Cal on March 9, 1990.

Reese was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the 1991 draft, the 137th player taken. He pitched three seasons of minor league baseball, compiling a 3.18 earned run average for the San Bernardino Spirit of the Class A California League in 1991 and winning 10 games for Peninsula of the Class A Carolina League in 1992.

While at ASU, Rees pitched for the Alaska Goldpanners in the Alaska Summer League.


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