Courtesy Photo Rob Enslen

ALPENA — The Alpena Community College baseball program has found its coach.

The school on Tuesday announced the hiring of Rob Enslen to lead its newly revived program.

The Lumberjacks begin play in spring 2023 and will use a field in Ossineke as their home field.

“I’m super excited for the opportunity, very grateful for the opportunity,” Enslen said. “It’s an exciting time for Alpena and I knew it was a perfect fit.”

Enslen comes to ACC after a four-year college playing career and one year of playing minor league baseball. Enslen, a native of Middleville, played high school baseball at Thornapple Kellogg before playing four years at Oakland University from 2012 to 2015.

Enslen did a little bit of everything in his time with the Golden Grizzlies. As a sophomore, he led Oakland in runs scored, slugging percentage, and RBIs. As a junior, he was named first team all-Horizon League and was an all-Mideast Region selection while leading Oakland in several offensive categories.

In his senior season, he was a second team all-Horizon League pick, started all of Oakland’s games, and finished fourth all-time in career hits with 218, among many other accolades.

He spent one season with the River City Rascals, appearing in 88 games and batting .272 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs.

Enslen, who has played baseball as long as he can remember, said he’s ready to put the lessons learned from his mentors into practice, including his former Oakland coach, John Musachio.

He’s recently coached in northern Michigan, coaching in the Petoskey Youth Baseball Association and helping the Inland Lakes High School baseball team.

He’ll be tasked with doing everything from finding players to field a team to securing equipment and uniforms for the Lumberjacks.

“I learned along the way what it takes to play the game the right way and how to carry yourself on the field and off the field,” Enslen said. “It’s an exciting time for the community and I’m excited to bring college baseball to Alpena.”

The ACC Board of Trustees approved baseball as the school’s sixth National Junior College Athletic Association-approved sport at a meeting last month.

“We are thrilled to have Coach Enslen to lead our baseball program. His passion and enthusiasm for the game along with his baseball and leadership experience will produce a quality team on the field and in the classroom,” ACC President Don MacMaster said.

The move to bring baseball back to ACC began in March during discussions about conference realignment. For years, ACC has played in the Eastern Conference — one of two divisions in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association. Starting in the fall, ACC will join an eight-team North division that includes Kirtland, Delta, North Central Michigan College, Mid Michigan College, Muskegon, Grand Rapids, and Bay College.

Alpena will play those teams in volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball. All but Kirtland and North Central have baseball and softball teams.

Having an odd number of teams plus a growing interest by local athletes strengthened the case for bringing baseball back to ACC, Athletic Director Cindy DeRocher said.

In recent years, local baseball players have gone on to play at Delta, Bay College, and Mid Michigan College among other schools.

“It is exciting. I think it’s the right time with (ACC) entering this new conference. We get asked about baseball all the time,” DeRocher said. “We have softball, why don’t we have baseball? There’s interest in the area as players are starting to show interest in it.”