Mike Ashman Head Baseball Coach - 9th year Cal Poly Pomona '87

Email: mdashman@csupomona.edu
Phone: (909) 869-2829

Regarded as one of the top players in Cal Poly Pomona history, Mike Ashman has also made his mark as a Bronco coach. Ashman enters his ninth year as the Cal Poly Pomona head coach and has carried on the fine tradition of the Bronco baseball program. Ashman played for Hall of Fame coach John Scolinos in the 1980 and ’81 seasons and was a key member of the 1980 NCAA Division II championship squad.

Ashman has guided the Broncos to 30 or more victories in three of the past four seasons and led the team to winning records in four of the past five years. Cal Poly Pomona had never recorded three straight 30-win seasons and hadn’t posted four consecutive winning seasons since 1970 before the recent runs under Ashman.

Ashman remains dedicated to maintaining the Broncos’ standing as one of the conference’s top teams and to returning Cal Poly Pomona to national prominence. He is committed to the philosophies and ideals taught to him by Scolinos and strives to give the university, alumni and community a program to rally around.

The Broncos were an uncharacteristic 15-39 in 2003 and had their string of four straight winning seasons come to an end. In 2002, the Broncos recorded a 31-22-1 record and just missed qualifying for the CCAA Championship Tournament for a third straight season.

Ashman led the Broncos to a 31-24 record in 2001, including a 23-17 conference mark that qualified Cal Poly Pomona for the four-team CCAA Championship Tournament. Five players from that squad were selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

Cal Poly Pomona also qualified for the conference tournament in 2000 with a 24-15 conference mark.

Eleven Broncos have been drafted since Ashman became the head coach in 1996 and several others have signed with professional baseball teams.

Ashman was also a batting practice pitcher for the 2002 World Series champion Anaheim Angels and was on hand when the Angels won the first championship in the franchise’s history. That spring, the Broncos faced the Angels in an exhibition game at the Angels’ spring training complex in Tempe, Ariz.

Before becoming Cal Poly Pomona’s head coach, Ashman spent the 1995 season with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, where his primary responsibility was as the team’s hitting coach. In his one season in Lincoln, the Cornhuskers raised their team batting average from .265 to .323. He also helped develop Darin Erstad into the No. 1 pick in the 1995 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. Erstad has remained close with Ashman and is a frequent visitor to Cal Poly Pomona. Erstad has participated in a youth clinic at the university for the past five years.

Prior to going to Nebraska, Ashman served for five seasons as an assistant coach at Riverside Community College under former Bronco assistant coach and standout player Dennis Rogers. During his time at RCC, the Tigers compiled a 160-74 record and advanced to the California State Junior College Regionals every season. RCC had a pair of fourth-place finishes in the state in 1990 and 1991.

As a player at Cal Poly Pomona, Ashman led the 1980 squad to the national championship and earned All-America honors in the process. He batted .365 that season with 95 hits and 56 RBI. He went on to play six seasons of professional baseball in the Oakland Athletics’ and Pittsburgh Pirates’ organizations. Ashman also played for the U.S. Olympic Team in World Cup games in Japan.

Ashman is a product of the Inland Empire and competed for Bloomington High School and San Bernardino Valley College. At Bloomington, he was an all-San Andreas League first-team selection for two years. His team was the 1975 CIF runner-up.

Ashman graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and obtained his Master’s Degree in management from National University in San Diego. He resides in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife, Jill, and has two children, daughter Delaney and son Zachary.

2003: 15-39, 10-29
2002: 31-22-1, 20-20
2001: 31-24, 23-17
2000: 32-26, 24-15
1999: 25-24, 19-21
1998: 19-25, 13-19
1997: 28-28, 18-14
1996: 13-40-1, 5-27

For more information on Cal Poly Pomona baseball, please direct e-mail to mdashman@csupomona.edu