[Baseball action] 

[Aaron Rushing, Baseball action]Head Coach Aaron Rushing (seventh season)
Record at Carleton: 77-143 (six years)
Career Record: 90-171 (seven years)
Email: arushing@carleton.edu
Phone: (507)222-4051

Aaron Rushing moves into his seventh season as Carleton’s head baseball coach. In his first six seasons, he has led the team to the best six-year win total since 1995-99. In 2009, he guided the Knights to their first ever MIAC playoff berth and their second highest season win total. In Rushing’s brief tenure the team boasts 15 academic All-MIAC players, nine All-MIAC players, three All-Region players, two academic all-district players, a Fulbright Scholar, and an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar.

Formerly an assistant baseball and football coach at his alma mater, Grinnell College (Iowa), Rushing brings a wide variety of experiences to Carleton’s baseball program.

In his only year as head coach at Minot State University, he inherited a team that had only six wins the previous season. He led that Beavers squad to the 2003 DAC-10 Tournament Championship and their first NAIA regional tournament berth since resurrecting the program in 1988.

He also served as pitching and catching coach for two summers with the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Catz, a summer collegiate team in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. Rushing’s pitching staff set a Catz record with a 2.23 ERA, helping them to the 2003 ACBL regular season and tournament championships. Ten pitchers and two catchers from those teams have gone on to play professionally.

A 2001 graduate of Grinnell with a degree in economics, Rushing was a pitcher and catcher for the Pioneers and captained the two winningest teams in school history. Following his collegiate career, Rushing played baseball for a season in France, pitching and playing infield for the Toulouse Tigers. He earned his master’s degree in management from Minot State in 2004.

Rushing is married to Naomi Rushing, a 2002 Grinnell graduate. They live in Northfield with their daughter, Bella, and son, Tori. He also serves as an assistant football coach and associate professor in the physical education, athletics and recreation department.

[Jim Christensen, Baseball Headshot]Assistant Coach Jim Christensen (15th season)
Jim Christensen moves into his 15th season on the baseball coaching staff. A longtime Carleton assistant football coach, he graduated from St. Olaf College, where he played both football and baseball. Christensen is a local insurance representative as well as an experienced high school and college basketball official. He was a pitcher and outfielder for the Northfield Millers, a local amateur age 35-and-over ball club that captured the 1997 and 1998 state championships.

[Neal Jeppson football headshot]Assistant Coach Neal Jeppson (seventh season)
Neal Jeppson begins his seventh year as hitting coach for the Knights. Jeppson retired after 29 seasons as head coach at Burnsville (Minn.) High School. His long, successful tenure was recently recognized by his induction into by the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. During his tenure he won one conference championship and three section titles. Jeppson also assists with the Carleton football team as wide receivers coach.