Bio

Mark Laschanzky (Coach Zky) enters his third season as an assistant coach at Dakota Wesleyan University, bringing 20-years of coaching experience with him to Tigers baseball.

Coach Zky comes to DWU from Hasting after being the head-hitting coach for the Broncos from 2020-21, where he helped lead Hastings to the postseason and coached three all-conference position players.

Before Hastings, Laschanzky was the assistant coach for the Roadrunners of Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver). He helped MSU Denver to its best season in recent history in 2015 after leading the Roadrunners to a 28-22 record, including 21-14 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

The summer before joining the Roadrunners, Coach Zky was the head coach of the Boulder Collagens, a collegiate wooden bat league of the Rocky Mountain Baseball League. In the summer months, Coach Laschanzky still coaches in the Rocky Mountain League for the Denver Cougars an NBC affiliate.

Laschanzky assisted the Roadrunners of MSU Denver from 2014-17, as the pitching and third base coach. Laschanzky helped the Roadrunners to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) championship game after upsetting No. 16/15 CSU-Pueblo and No. 3/2 Colorado Mesa in the first and second round of the conference tournament. It was the deepest run for MSU Denver in the postseason since 2002. He also helped the team to a 17-game home winning streak from January into April, the second-longest home winning streak in school history.

Throughout the season, MSU Denver led the conference in fielding percentage. The pitching staff finished third in the RMAC in earned run average and broke the school record for strikeouts per nine innings. He coached four all-RMAC players, including two that also earned all-region in senior pitcher Kris Lalk and junior designated hitter Jeff Levett. In the classroom, the team had six academic all-RMAC selections.

He joined the Roadrunners in 2014-15 after spending two seasons as a graduate assistant at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.

At Augie, he helped the Vikings win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament and reach the NCAA tournament, posting a 41-16 record in 2014. Augie went 38-18 in his first season in 2013. During his time with the Vikings, Coach Zky worked with the outfielders and the hitters.

Laschanzky began his coaching career during the summers of his collegiate playing career, helping at Regis High School. He also assisted at Ellis High School in Ellis, Kansas, for one season. In 2001, he took over as the pitching coach at Hastings College, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He then became the pitching coach at Arapahoe Community College in 2002 and remained on staff as the head coach until the program disbanded after the 2005 season. Before his stint at Augustana, he was the varsity pitching coach at Boulder High School for three seasons, before moving to the head junior varsity coach for one season. While at Boulder, Colo. Coach Zky coached the Legion A and B teams

As a student-athlete, Laschanzky played at Dodge City Community College from 1992-94, being named a Jayhawk all-star and all-conference award winner as a sophomore. Competed at Fort Hays his junior year, before finishing up his senior year of college ball at GPAC foe, Hastings, where he was a third baseman and a closer for the Broncos.

Laschanzky signed a professional contract with the Chillicothe Paints of the Frontier League in 1998. Then played for the Denver Cerveceras in the Mexican La League for three years.

He and his wife Kendra reside in Mitchell & have one daughter, Maddux.

Sponsored By:

Jimmy Johns

1610 S Burr St Mitchell, S.D. 57301

Contact: Ben Anderson

(605) 441-6011

www.JimmyJohns.com