After achieving yet another successful season in 2018, head coach
Tom Eller returns for his 13th year at the helm of the Harford baseball team. Under his guidance, the Fighting Owls have recorded it's most successful campaigns in program history, capped by a quintet of Region XX championships.
In 2018, Eller would secure his 400th win as the head coach of the Fighting Owls baseball team. Harford ended the season at a 47-14 record and go 30-3 in conference play, with four players achieving All-Conference and All-Region status. Eller would also lead the team to more postseason success, winning his fifth Region XX championship after defeating the Md Juco regular season champion Chesapeake twice in the span of as many days.
2017 saw Eller's Fighting Owls soar to its second straight 50+ win season as well as a program record 137 home runs. The team secured the regular season conference championship with a 24-1-1 record against Md Juco foes as well as Eller's fourth Region XX championship. Six Harford players would be tabbed for the All-Conference Team, five for the All-Region Team, and three as All-Americans.
Coach Eller led his team to unprecedented offensive success as the team broke program records all over the place including an impressive 119 home runs in the 2016 campaign. The Fighting Owls dynasty was continued as they went 25-1 in Md Juco conference play. Eller rightfully earned the Md Juco coach of the year; his 4th since taking the helm for the Fighting Owls. The team won conference and regional titles as well as earning their way to the Juco World Series where they went 2-2 against the best junior college baseball teams in the country.
Eller was named Md Juco Coach of the Year for the 2015 after a 43-win campaign that included a school record 24-2 MD JUCO mark. He also won it in 2012 after guiding the Fighting Owls to the school’s first-ever conference championship. He coached Harford to a school-record 45 win campaign that season, including an amazing 24-4 record in MD JUCO action. In 2014, Eller led his squad to the Region XX Championship on his brand-new, state-of-the-art home turf in dramatic fashion.
The 2015 squad was the most potent offensive team in school history. The Fighting Owls were the top scoring team in the entire nation and led the NJCAA in almost every offensive category.
| Year |
Record |
| 2018 |
47-14 |
| 2017 |
51-10-1 |
| 2016 |
54-11 |
| 2015 |
43-15 |
| 2014 |
30-31-1 |
| 2013 |
35-21* |
| 2012 |
45-15 |
| 2011 |
44-13 |
| 2010 |
33-16 |
| 2009 |
22-26 |
| 2008 |
16-31 |
| 2007 |
13-27 |
| Total |
433-230-2 |
The Fighting Owls won their first-ever Region XX Championship at the Division I level under Eller’s guidance in 2012. For the second-straight season, Harford earned the top-seed, had nine members on the All-Region XX Team and four members on the All-MD JUCO Team.
In 2013, Eller won his 200th game in half the time it took him to win his 100th. The Fighting Owls defeated Chesapeake on April 13, 2013, for the milestone win. Eller went 100-33 in the time since he won his 100th game in 2011.
Harford reached the Region XX Championship Game in 2013 after a 35-win season. The Fighting Owls hit .329 with 560 hits and 104 doubles during the year while claiming seven all-region and four all-conference performers.
Norm Donkin became the first Fighting Owl to earn First-Team All-MD JUCO at two positions, outfield and closer. He finished his career in the top three of most hitting statistics, along with former All-Americans Joe Harbach (‘10) and James Wilson (‘12).
Harford set new school records with 638 hits, 121 doubles, 17 triples while finishing third in school history with a .347 batting average. On the mound, the Fighting Owls recorded a program-best 418 strikeouts in 445 innings, while posting a 3.82 earned-run average, the second-best in school history, to last season’s 3.50.
In 2011, Eller amassed his 100th career victory while clinching the regular-season NJCAA Region XX title and the school’s first-ever top seed in the regional tournament. For his efforts, Eller was rewarded with the 2011 MD JUCO Coaches’ Association Co-Coach of the Year. The Fighting Owls finished the year with a 44-13 record.
Eller sent four players to NCAA Division I schools from the 2011 roster alone. A trio of sophomores (pitchers Corey Taylor and Dom Vattuone and outfielder Christian Wolfe) signed with UNC-Greensboro after the season, while freshman lefthander Jamie Pashuck committed to Maryland after just one extremely successful season at Harford.
In all, Eller has sent over 70 players to four-year schools, including Maryland, Delaware, VCU, Wofford, USC-Upstate, Presbyterian, Navy, UNC-Greensboro, Marshall, Long Island, West Chester and Wilmington.
Throughout his nine years as the Harford skipper, Eller’s players have grabbed their fair share of hardware, with five NJCAA All-Americans, 56 players earning All-Region XX accolades and 29 grabbing MDJUCO All-Conference honors.
In 2009-10, Eller mentored Joe Harbach, the best player in Harford history, helping him earn NJCAA First-Team All-American honors as a sophomore after setting school records with a .514 batting average, 89 hits, 19 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs and 60 RBIs. He also set marks with 38 stolen bases, an .832 slugging percentage and .578 on-base percentage.
Eller also mentored the program’s first two-time NJCAA All-American in shortstop James Wilson. Wilson set a program record with 105 RBIs in his two seasons (2011-12), and his career .408 batting average and 144 hits rank second only to Harbach’s amazing numbers.
In addition, Eller’s coaching resume includes two other national award-winners in 2008 NJCAA Division II Third-Team All-American Brandon Maupin and 2008 NJCAA Division II Rawlings Gold Glove pitcher Bryan Wolfe.
Eller’s defensive coaching skills continued to shine in 2009, as Harbach garnered MDJUCO and Region XX Gold Glove honors and advanced as a finalist for the district teams, with the possibility of becoming the second Rawlings Gold Glove winner at Harford under Eller’s direction. Three players from the 2011 team also earned conference and regional Gold Gloves. In the fall of 2010, Eller mentored a team-best 10 student-athletes on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.
Two of Eller’s former players were picked up in the MLB draft as Rob Bryson went to the Milwaukee Brewers during the 31st round in 2006 and Brett Oberholtzer was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the eighth round of the 2008 draft.
In 2010, Eller guided the Fighting Owls to a 33-16 record that included the first postseason win in Harford’s history.
In 2007, during his first season at the helm of the Harford baseball team, Eller led the Fighting Owls to their first playoff appearance in over 10 years.
Prior to taking the reins at Harford, Eller spent the 2005-06 season as the assistant coach at NCAA Division II Wilmington University, where he helped the Wildcats to a second-place finish in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and a No. 6 ranking in the region.
During his time at Wilmington, Eller also coached the American Legion Stahl Post #30 team for two years, where he instructed Bryson and Oberholtzer and piloted his team to two consecutive state titles and Mid-Atlantic Regional appearances.
Eller began his coaching career at MDJUCO-foe Cecil College in the fall of 2004 before furthering his education at Millersville University where he also served as an assistant coach for the 2005 season.
Eller was an accomplished player as well, his career beginning at Rising Sun H.S. where he helped the Tigers to a state championship title in 2000 and continuing at Cecil, where he was named MDJUCO All-Conference, and at Wilmington.
A 2005 graduate of Wilmington with a bachelor’s in general studies, Eller went on to earn his master’s in sports management from Millersville in 2006 and also serves as the facilities manager at Harford. He is currently pursuing his second master’s degree from Penn State University in turf-grass management.
A native of Rising Sun, Md., Eller currently resides in Elkton, Md. with his wife, Kim, daughter, Teagan, and their two dogs, Diggy and Kerbie.
