LACEY, Wash. — The Saint Martin's Baseball program officially announced its 2026 baseball coaching staff under Head Coach Jacob Garsez.
Garsez, who joined SMU in July of 2025 with a decade of head coaching experience, has put together the following coaching staff ahead of his first season in Lacey: Ben Harley, Trent Verlin, Ryen Linden, and Taylor Boster.
Jacob Garsez — Head Coach
Jacob Garsez was announced as the Saint Martin's Head Baseball Coach in July of 2025. Garsez has served as a collegiate head coach for 10 years, most recently at Sonoma State and previously at Oregon Tech and Antelope Valley. During this time, Garsez has accumulated a 291-185-1 career record at the collegiate level.
At Oregon Tech (2021-24), Garsez coached the Owls to a record of 120-87 during his tenure. Oregon Tech notched three consecutive 30+ win seasons under his coaching. He was named 2023 Cascade Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Owls to a CCC regular season title and a run to the conference championship game.
Garsez spent the 2016-19 seasons at Antelope Valley, where the team went 156-65-1 in his tenure. The Pioneers captured Cal Pac championships in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, while winning the conference tournament in 2018 and 2019. Garsez led the team to three NAIA Tournament appearances and led the Pioneers to the NAIA World Series and placed fifth in 2018. He earned 2016 and 2018 Cal Pac Coach of the Year and 2018 NAIA West Region Coach of the Year.
Ben Harley — Assistant Coach, Pitching Coach
Ben Harley joins Saint Martin's as the team's pitching coach after spending the last six seasons at Centralia College. Harley spent the last five of those seasons as the Blazers' head coach, leading the team to a program-record 30 wins during the 2024 season. Centralia followed up that performance the following season by making the team's deepest playoff run in over 20 years.
Harley also has experience coaching the Kalamazoo Growlers of the Northwoods League during the 2022 and 2023 summers — the Growlers claimed their first Northwoods League championship in the franchise's history during the 20222 summer. From the 2022 and 2023 rosters, 14 players were drafted or signed to play baseball professionally.
In addition to collegiate experience, Harley has past coaching experience at Driveline Baseball Youth Academy, and high school coaching experience at four different high schools.
Trent Verlin — Assistant Coach
Trent Verlin comes to Lacey after spending the past two seasons as the lead assistant at Menlo College. Prior to Menlo, Verling spent the prior two seasons as an assistant at Bowling Green State University. At Bowling Green, Verlin helped lead the Falcons to 38 wins in 2021, marking the program's first 20-win season in six years.
Verlin spent three seasons at Penn State Harrisburg as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator, totaling 71 wins during that time. The Nittany Lions recorded a program-record 33 wins in 2019, and averaged nine runs per game over the three seasons he spent in Harrisburg.
Ryan Linden — Assistant Coach
Ryan Linden is no stranger to Head Coach Jacob Garseez, as the two coached together at Oregon Tech during the 2024 season. Linden helped the Owls break the school record for single-season win totals during the 2024 and 2025 seasons that he spent with the program as an assistant coach. Linden helped coach Tyler Horner to back-to-back Academic All-American of the Year and All-American Honors, as well as Patrick Barry to the 2025 Academic All-American Second Team.
Linden previously coached at Antelope Valley College, working with outfielders and serving as the third-base coach. He also has head coaching experience at the high school level as well as with the Gumbaroos of the Pacific International League.
The Saints open the 2026 season on Jan. 30 on the road at Vanguard University. SMU's first home game is against Whitworth on Feb. 21, and the Saints open GNAC play on the road against MSU-Billings on March 6.
Taylor Boster enters his seventh season as a member of the Saint Martin's baseball coaching staff. In addition to his role as assistant coach, Boster is also the Director of Charneski Recreation Center on campus
Boster started as a graduate assistant in 2019, before moving on to serve roles as assistant hitting and bench coach, as well as outfield and first base coach. In 2024-25, he served as the director of baseball operations.
In addition to collegiate coaching experience at Saint Martin's, Boster spent the 2012-19 seasons as a youth and high school baseball coach with Sandberg Baseball Club, where he held roles as the 13U-16U head coach, 18U assistant coach, and assistant director of instruction.
