Phill Shallenberger 

 

On Sept. 2, Messiah University announced the hiring of Phill Shallenberger as the new head coach of the Messiah baseball team. Shallenberger brings over a decade of coaching experience to Grantham, with multiple assistant coaching stops along with four years as the head coach of the Cairn University Highlanders in Langhorne, Pa. In his most recent stop. Shallenberger was the General Manager and 17u Head Baseball Coach at the Park Sports Complex and Powerballers Baseball in the Lehigh Valley. Shallenberger will begin his new role with the Falcons later this month on Sept. 20.
 
A 2010 graduate of Geneva College, Shallenberger was a four-year baseball player for the Golden Tornados splitting time between shortstop and the mound. Shallenberger was Geneva's everyday shortstop and also served as the team's closer. After finishing his time on the field, Shallenberger stayed on the bench for three years at Geneva as a graduate assistant coach.
 
Shallenberger then headed to Cairn University to serve as an assistant coach and resident director. After two years, he headed to Nashville and took a resident director role at Belmont University when he had the chance to work as a graduate assistant for their Division I baseball program as well. After just one year in Nashville, Shallenberger headed back over to take the head coaching position at Cairn University.
 
With Shallenberger at the helm, Cairn earned their first-ever berth into the CSAC Tournament in 2019, advancing to the Conference Championship Series. While the Highlanders fell to national-power Keystone in the final, Shallenberger was named the Conference Coach of the Year for the Highlanders' aggressive style. Cairn was second in the country in stolen bases with 140 while also setting the program record for home runs in a season with 22.
 
Shallenberger spent the summer of 2020 in Savannah, Ga. with the Savannah Bananas, a top-tier collegiate summer league team that had three players drafted in the 2021 MLB draft and two other signed to professional contracts.
 
Most recently, Shallenberger worked as the general manager for the soon-to-be-built The Park sports complex in the Lehigh Valley, but is excited about getting back into collegiate coaching, particularly at Messiah.