ASSISTANT COACHES COACH B. CRAIG | COACH M. HALLBERG | 22 | ORLEANS FIREBIRDS 2017 YEARBOOK OrleansFirebirds.com Mark Hallberg Assistant Coach American School of Dubai Hometown: Balsam Lake, Wisconsin Twitter: @mhallberg4 Mark Hallberg returns for his 4th year on the Firebirds coaching staff, working primarily with the defense and coaching third base. Coach Hallberg was a three-sport star at Barron High (WI) in baseball, soccer and basketball. On the diamond, he was a 3-time All-State performer and in 2004 was recognized as the Northwest Wisconsin player of the year. Amazingly, he didn’t strike out once during his junior and senior seasons. Coach Hallberg started his college baseball career at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was named Louisville Slugger Freshman All- American, and was the most difficult hitter in the nation to strike out. He played for Orleans in 2006, and transferred to Florida State for his junior season where he garnered first team All-ACC honors in 2007, hit .360 and recorded the highest fielding percentage in school history for a shortstop. In the three years of college, Coach Hallberg was 1st team All-Conference three times, and 2-time All-American, with a career .362 BA. A 9th round draft selection (234 overall) in the 2007 MLB draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, he played five seasons in the minor leagues, the last two with the Triple-A Reno Aces, finishing with a career .277 BA and .977 FPCT. Coach Hallberg holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree and BS in Health and Human Performance. He currently works overseas teaching at the American School of Dubai. �� Benny Craig Feel Good Hitting, Carmel, IN Hometown: San Diego, California Twitter: @feelgoodhitting Coach Craig returns for his 9th season as the team’s primary hitting coach and he’ll also run the offense. A native of San Diego, Craig spent the first three years of his collegiate career as a switch-hitting outfielder for the UCLA Bruins before transferring to Loyola Marymount for his senior season. Selected in the 19th round of the 1997 Major League draft by the Cincinnati Reds, he played for its Burlington Bees affiliate and later the Houston Astros’ Kissimmee Cobras. Coach Craig played for several independent teams, and he homered from both sides of the plate in the same game three times. During his 10-year professional career, he accumulated 108 home runs. He started his coaching career at Cal State Los Angeles, and was the hitting coach at Grossmont High School (CA) for two seasons, reaching the CIF finals in both years and winning the title in 2010. Craig holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA. Currently, he runs a private batting facility in northern Indianapolis called Feel Good Hitting, where he instructs players of all ages, with a strong focus on high school, college, and professional athletes. Coach Craig names Ted Williams, Pete Rose, Sadaharu Oh, Harvey Dorfman, and Ben Hogan as his strongest hitting influences. �� Proud to be the Orleans Firebirds Team Physicians GO BIRDS! Kimberely Mead-Walters, M.D. Patricia Raney, M.D. Laura Arnold, M.D. John Reynolds, M.D. Elizabeth Larson, P.A. Joan Peters-Gilmartin, P.A. 81 Old Colony Way, Suite D, Orleans, MA 02653 tel: 508-240-1141 fax: 508-240-3031
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