Prior to his professional career, Mike attended the University of Michigan from 1983-85, where he was a 1st team All-American centerfielder. He left Michigan after his junior year, having been drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers (2nd round; 31st overall pick) in the 1985 amateur baseball draft.

Mike now lives in Burnsville with his wife and 6 children, where he is active coaching traveling baseball and softball. He also is an active member and Sunday School teacher at Bethlehem Baptist Church. 

Matt Haefner was a 4 year starter at Mankato State University, Senior Captain and a 3 time NCC player of the week. In 1990, he was named to the 1st team All Tournament Team NCAA Regional. While at Mankato State Matt coached hitting clinics with MSU Coach Dean Bowyer for 4 Summers.

Matt wanted to continue playing baseball and was invited to several MLB tryouts. He played Fast Pitch Softball on the Happy Chef Softball Team from 1992-2000 where he batted 3rd and led the team in homeruns and RBI’s for 4 years. In 1995, the Happy Chef team won the National Tournament where Matt was a 1st Team All American, MVP and Homerun Champion. In 1995 Matt received a Bronze Medal at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Denver, CO. In 1996 the Happy Chef team finished 5th at the World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisconsin.

Matt now lives in Prior Lake with his wife and children.

Pitching - Girls

Michelle Harrison grew up in Southern California, the “hotbed” of fastpitch softball. In ASA she made six trips to Nationals, finishing top 10 five times and taking the ASA 16u National Championship in Normal, IL in 1996. She pitched for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and won a Big-10 Championship against powerhouse Michigan in 1999 to advance to Regional appearance at UCLA. The Gophers fell just short of a College World Series appearance.

Michelle went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University, Fullerton. Michelle enters her 13th year of experience in fastpitch instruction. She began working with younger girls when she was still a player herself and now trains full time. 

Pitching/Throwing - Boys

Todd Oakes, Chad Drexler, and Tyler Oakes are teaming up to provide training to pitchers. The three of them have worked & trained together at the U of M.

Todd Oakes, originally from Spring Grove, MN was a three sport athlete and earned 13 Varsity letters. After graduating from Spring Grove High School, Oakes moved on to Waldorf College (Iowa) where he earned second-team All-American honors as a Sophomore. After graduating with his A.A. degree Oakes enrolled at the University of Nebraska. In his two seasons with the Cornhuskers, Oakes compiled a 16-4 career record and earned second-team All-Big Eight honors in 1983.

Oakes was drafted by the San Francisco Giants and played four years in the organization. In 1987 he moved into the coaching ranks and spent the next 12 years as pitching coach at various levels of the organization. In 1997 Oakes was named the Giants’ minor league pitching coordinator and oversaw the minor league pitching staffs at every level of the organization.

In 1998, Oakes was named assistant coach at the University of Minnesota where the pitching staff has steadily improved. In 2001, Minnesota allowed the second-fewest runs per game in the Big Ten and had the second best strikeout to walk ratio in the conference. Opponents hit a mere .284 off the Golden Gophers aces – second lowest in the league.

Oakes and his wife Terri are the parents of sons Tyler, 20, who’s a Sophomore on this year’s Golden Gopher squad, TJ, 16, and Tanner, 14. They currently reside in Jordan.

Chad Drexler played high school baseball at Coon Rapids from 1998-2000 where he earned team MVP, All Conference, All Region, and All State honors. He went on to pitch 2 years at the University of Minnesota where he was a 2 time letter winner, 5 time scholar athlete, and 2 time All Big Ten scholar athlete. After an injury, Drexler became an assistant coach at the U for 3 years.

Drexler graduated with a History Degree and Minored in coaching in May of 2005. In addition, he has worked with the MBIS – Minnesota Baseball Instructional School – as an instructor for their baseball camps at the U of M for 5 years. Currently he lives in Minneapolis.

Tyler Oakes graduated from Jordan High School in Jordan, MN. In 2005 Oakes was the Class 2A Player of the Year and named All-Conference in baseball the last 2 years. He helped lead his team to back-to-back MRC Baseball Championships in 2004 & 2005.

Oakes moved on to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers where he has pitched for them in 2006 & 2007. In addition he has worked with the MBIS – Minnesota Baseball Instructional School – as an instructor for their baseball camps at the U of M for the past 3 years.