New Beginnings

Ecclesia Baseball Coach Realizes A Dream

Ecclesia College players practice Feb. 19 at the Tyson Sports Complex in Springdale. The baseball team originally started as a club sport, but has since moved to a college program.
Ecclesia College players practice Feb. 19 at the Tyson Sports Complex in Springdale. The baseball team originally started as a club sport, but has since moved to a college program.

— The new Ecclesia College baseball program has been the answer to many prayers. 

Royals coach Derrion Hardie never imagined he would begin a college program at the age of 41, let alone one at a Christian school.

Ecclesia College Royals

Home Baseball Schedule

Date Opponent Time

March 11 Lincoln Christian University 1 p.m. (DH)

March 12 Lincoln Christian University 1 p.m. (DH)

March 18 Bethany College 1 p.m. (DH)

March 23 University of the Ozarks 1 p.m. (DH)

April 1 Central Baptist College 1 p.m. (DH)

April 5 Crowley’s Ridge College 1 p.m. (DH)

April 6 Crowley’s Ridge College noon (DH)

April 15 St. Louis Christian College 1 p.m. (DH)

April 26 Mid-America Christian University 1 p.m. (DH)

Home games played at Tyson Sports Complex, Springdale

“I told my wife that my dream, if I ever had the opportunity, was to start a college baseball program,” said Hardie, who is from South Dakota. “And to create a program that was going to develop Christ-like character, I didn’t think it would ever happen. If it did, I thought it would be later in my career.”

For Leo Parisella, being able to play baseball in the United States seemed farfetched as a child growing up in Venezuela. 

“I never thought in Venezuela that I was gonna be able to go to the United States and play college ball,” Parisella said. “It’s like a dream come true for me.”

But it doesn’t take coming from hundreds or thousands of miles away to feel the magnitude of being part of the blossoming program.

Caleb Kelley was born and raised in Bentonville, and said it is a special feeling to play collegiately only miles from where he grew up. 

“Most of us as boys dreamed of playing college ball and beyond,” Kelley said. “To get this opportunity is huge, and for me, to be so close to my family is amazing.

“But mainly, to be the pioneers of this new program is an honor.”

Since Ecclesia became a four-year college in 2005, new sports teams have popped up each year. In April 2012, it was baseball’s turn. 

The first step was to find the right person to lead the way.

Ecclesia athletic director Dean Skinner can’t recall how many applied for the coaching position, but said most athletic college openings get at least 150 applications. 

Hardie’s resume and success at the high school and college level immediately caught Skinner’s eye, and he was more impressed once he met the coach in person.

“Being a Christian college, it’s important who the person is that we hire,” Skinner said. “(Hardie) came across as someone with great experience and someone who was really going to care about his athletes.”

That might be an understatement. Hardie said he sees the players on the team as his own sons, and to him, this is the greatest pressure there has been while creating the program.

“Some of them actually call me dad,” he said. “Families entrust their kids to me in the four years I have them. That’s something I don’t take lightly. They say, ‘With great power comes great responsibility,’ and that’s how I feel.”

Hardie accepts the most responsibility for the seven Venezuelans on the team who have faced the greatest adjustment coming from another country to Northwest Arkansas. 

“Venezuela is a socialist country with communist ties to Cuba, and so a lot of the area in Venezuela, particularly where these guys live, are areas of poverty,” Hardie said. “To get the opportunity to come to the United States and get an education, and at the same time continue playing baseball, well, they appreciate it. They are constantly coming up and giving you hugs.”

When the team first gathered, Hardie said there were times of disconnect among the players being from all different backgrounds. That’s where the game of baseball came in.

“You know how they say music is the universal language of love?” Hardie said. “Well, baseball is kind of like that, too. Baseball has brought the Venezuelan players closer to the other guys. There’s a really cool chemistry on our team.”

In the decades Hardie has played and coached the game, he said he has yet to see the kind of chemistry this team has. He has another adage for the topic.

“Team chemistry wise, this may be one of the strongest teams I’ve had,” Hardie said. “Another saying I like: ‘Some people think that winning creates team chemistry. Well, I don’t believe that. I believe team chemistry creates winning.’”

While there wasn’t any winning in the team’s first few games against Culver-Stockton College, that all changed on Feb. 15. Ecclesia defeated Southwestern Assemblies of God University 10-8, then went on to win the next two games and take the series.

The eight months of recruiting an entire team, implementing the values this new program would adhere to and all the practicing, was finally worth it.

“Our first win was the best moment,” Parisella said. “I waited so long to play the first games. It was so emotional for me. It was so important.”

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