Blake Herring
Blake Herring

Bio

Blake Herring enters his ninth season at the helm of the Canes. He returned to Louisburg College as Head Baseball Coach in the fall of 2015, following a four-year stint at Carson-Newman as the Eagles' pitching coach. 

During his tenure heading the program at Louisburg, Herring has amassed over 200 wins. He has developed more than 85 players that have eventually went on to the 4 year level during his 8 full seasons as the head coach, while also having a player taken in the MLB Draft (Trendon Craig) from Louisburg. He has also coached the Region X Player Of The Year, Defensive Player Of The Year, and Relief Pitcher Of The Year, in each of their respective seasons. 

At Carson-Newman, Herring guided several pitchers to All-Conference and All-Region accolades. In 2015, Vince Apicella -- an All-Region award winner -- finished ranked 4th in NCAA DII in strikeouts.  Herring's pitching staff also led the league that year in Pitcher of the Week award winners as they ran away with the award four times during the season.  While at Carson-Newman Herring also helped tutor Chris Armstrong to second team All-SAC honors.  Armstrong was second in the league in strikeouts as well.  In his first year in Jeff City, Herring helped tutor Robbie Thigpen to a SAC Gold Glove. 

Prior to being at Carson-Newman Herring served as pitching coach at Louisburg College from 2008-11. Herring’s pitching staff was among the league's leaders in both earned run average and strikeouts during his time at Louisburg. He also coached the 2010 and 2011 Region 10 Pitcher of the Year.  One winner of that award went on to pitch for the South Carolina Gamecocks, the other was drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago Cubs. In his three years at LC, Herring saw 12 players move on to play at Division I universities and countless others transfer to Division II schools.   

Before Herring’s first coaching experience at Louisburg, he was an assistant coach at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, N.C. from 2007-08. 

Herring also had a successful playing career on the diamond. A 2003 graduate of Greene Central High School in Snow Hill, N.C., Herring was an All-State performer and was selected Conference Player of the Year.  He also played football and was a two-time all-area and all-conference selection. He went on to play two seasons at Lenoir Community College in Kinston, N.C., where he led the Lancers to a fifth place finish in the NJCAA Division II World Series during his freshman campaign.

Herring wrapped up his career playing the 2006 and 2007 seasons at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C. He led the team in wins, innings pitched, starts and complete games both seasons and led the Atlantic Sun Conference in complete games in 2007. Herring has continued his education and earned his Master's in Kinesiology from Georgia Southern.

Herring is married to the former Kelly Joyner who is a graduate of East Carolina University. She teaches 5th grade at Louisburg Elementary School. Blake and Kelly have a daughter, Peyton Banks Herring, and a son, Carson Blake Herring.