Assistant Baseball Coach/Recruting Coordinator
9^th Year at JCCC
JCCC / Missouri Western State University

Following a stellar playing career at Johnson County Community College and Missouri Western State University, Michael Yeager enters his ninth season as an assistant coach to the Cavaliers baseball program. He also serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator.

In his eight seasons, the Cavaliers have posted a record of 341-110 (.756), with one Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division championship, one Region 6/Central Districdt championship. one JUCO World Series appearance, and three conference runner-up finishes. He also helped coach seven All-Americans, 17 All-Region VI performers, 74 All-East Jayhawk Conference selections, two Region VI Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winners, one NJCAA D-I Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winner, one College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District At Large, one CSC Acadmic All-America® At Large and 77 student-athletes have NJCAA All-Academic honors. He also has helped 103 players advance their careers to a four-year level program.

This past season, the Cavaliers reached the NJCAA D-I World Series for the third time in program history and the first since 2014. JCCC went 56-10, including a 30-3 mark in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division to capture the program’s 11th title. Their 56 wins set a new team mark and tie the second most in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history. Following the season. Horner was named the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division and ABCA/ATEC NJCAA D-I Central District Coach of the Year.

Fourteen Cavaliers were named All-KJCCC East Division, including conference Pitcher of the Year Luc Fladda and Co-Freshman of the Year Dagen Brewer. Fladda was also named National Junior College Athletic Association and American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings second-team All-American.

Johnson County finished second in the country with a .364 team batting average, fourth with a .466 on-base percentage, and sixth with 597 runs scored. As a team, the Cavaliers drew nearly as many walks (336) as they had strikeouts (346). On the mound, JCCC's 3.80 ERA ranked eighth nationally, piling up 601 strikeouts to finish fourth in the country. The Cavaliers team fielding percentage of .976 was the second-best mark in NJCAA Division 1.

In 2022, JCCC opened the season ranked No. 17 in the NJCAA, No. 11 in JUCO Baseball Blog and received votes in both the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Prep Baseball Report preseason polls. The Cavaliers finished the season 46-17 overall, and 23-9 in conference play, good for third place. He would also help coach nine all-conference selections, with four also earning All-Region VI honors. Johnson County was one of the top hitting teams in the NJCAA. They ranked 7th with a team batting average of .356. They also ranked in the top-10 nationally in hits (684-6th), doubles (146-7th), RBI (526-9th), runs (579-9th), total bases (1118-8th) and extra base hits (250-7th).  Off the diamond nine student-athletes earned NJCAA All-Academic honors. 

In the COVID-19 pandemic shortened season of 2020, Johnson County raced out of the gate, winning 20 of 23 games. They were ranked third nationally in batting average (.398) and led the nation in hits (290), home run (47), RBI (228) and slugging percentage (.729). They were also tied for second in doubles (62), runs scored (256) and third in triples (19). Sophomore outfielder Brady Slavens was once pace to possible have the best hitting season ever at JCCC. He was batting at a .507 clip when the season was cut short, with nine doubles, two triples, 14 home runs and 47 RBI. His home run and RBI totals led all of baseball. After the season ended, Slavens was selected All-American the National Player of the Year by JUCO Baseball Blog. All-America honors also were bestowed on freshman outfielder Quinton Hall. In 21 games, Hall batted .462 (30-for-65) with seven doubles, two triples, six home runs, 32 runs and 23 driven in. 

In 2019, Johnson County began the season a consensus Top-25 ranked team. They appeared in all five preseason polls. Baseball America had them No. 14, followed by the NJCAAA at No. 16, Perfect Game No. 17, JUCO Baseball Blob at No 21 and Prep Baseball Report at No. 23. The Cavaliers finished 46-12, which included a program record 22-game win streak and a No. 6 national ranking. Eleven players were selected all-conference, five earned all-region honors, and outfielder Anthony Amicangelo earned first-team NJCAA All-American. Amicangelo, a South Carolina signee, batted .492 (91-for-185) with 23 doubles, five triples, six home runs, 62 runs and 68 RBIs. His .492 average led teh conference and ranked second in the NJCAA. It also is the second-best recorded in JCCC history. As a team, the Cavaliers led the conference and ranked fifth nationally with batting average of. .354. They also led the conference and ranked seventh in the NJCAA with 657 hits, and led the conference and ranked fifth nationally with 559 runs. 

In 2018, the Cavaliers finished 38-23, tied for third in the conference and reached the semifinals of the Region VI Tournament. Johnson County also finished among the top hitting teams in the conference and NJCAA. The team led the conference and ranked ninth nationally with 506 RBIs. The also ranked second and eighth respectively with 665 hits, sixth and 28th with 119 doubles, fifth and ninth with 33 triples, fourth and 19th with 78 home runs, second and ninth with 550 runs and fourth and 21st with a team batting average of .340. The 506 total RBIs and 550 runs scored are a new team record, and their totals for hits and home runs are second-most in team history. Yeager also assisted in coaching third-team All-American and first-team all-region and all-conference first-baseman Malik Williams, and four other all-conference performers.

In 2017, Johnson County again won 46 games, finishing 46-16, runner-up in the East Jayhawk and in third place at the Region VI Tournament. The Cavaliers also finished 20th in the final NJCAA poll after reaching No. 8 on April 25. The Cavaliers offense was again a staple in the national rankings, finishing 12th in hits, 15th in doubles, 12th in triples, 20th in home runs, 14th in total extra base hits, 12th in total bases and 21st in batting average.

His first season on staff, the Cavaliers finished 46-19 overall and appeared in the NJCAA national ranking is six of the seven polls. The Cavaliers were again among the top hitting team nationally. Johnson County ranked 17th in hits, 21st in doubles and 27th in home runs. Additionally, 10 players received All-East Jayhawk Conference recognition.

Off the field, JCCC has produced one of, if not the, highest team grade point average in the athletic department over the last four years. In 2017 and 2018, 81 percent posted a grade point of 3.0 or better. Last year, the 89 percent of the team posted a grade point above 3.0, and a total of 30 players have been recognized by the NJCAA for academic success during his four seasons on staff. Also in 2019, pitcher Dylan Bierman became the first JCCC male athlete to earn Google Cloud Academic All-America® College Division At-Large as named by the College Sports Informtion Directors of America (CoSIDA).

In his two seasons as a player at Johnson County, Yeager split time behind the plate and at first base.  He was a .357 hitter over his career (82-for-230) with nine doubles, a triple, 40 runs and 34 RBI. He recorded 24 multiple-hit games and eight multiple-RBI games.

His freshman campaign in 2012, Yeager garnered All-East Jayhawk Conference honorable mention honors at first bast after hitting .417 (43-for-103). He also had four doubles, scored 26 times and drove in 14. His 11 multi-hit and five multi-RBI games ranked second on the team. The following season Yeager batted .307 (39-for-127) with five doubles, a triple, 14 runs and 20 RBI. He ranked second on the squad in average, RBI and multiple-hit games.

Yeager continued his playing career at Missouri Western State University. As a junior, he played in 14 games, six as a starer. He made 24 plate appearances and collected two hits, including a home run, and four RBI.

Yeager became a regular in the lineup his senior year, making 33 starts. He hit .270 (24-for-89) with two doubles, two homers, 19 runs and 12 RBI. He had multiple-hit games, including three hits against Nebraska-Kearny (4-11-15). A week earlier, Yeager belted a three run home run against Truman State (4-7-15). He also posted a fielding percentage of .995, committing just one error in 187 fielding chances.

Yeager played his prep baseball at Staley High School, in Kansas City, Mo. He was a three-time letter winner for coach Dave Wilson. Yeager twice was selected by the Missouri High School Baseball coaches Association as a Class 4 All-State performer. He earned second-team as a junior and first-team accolades his senior year. He also garnered second-team All-State by the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association his senior year.

Yeager also was a three-time Small Suburban Six conference performers and twice named All-Northland. His senior year, Yeager was selected second-team All-Metro by the Kansas City Star and was selected to the Missouri All-Star team for the MO-Kan All-Star Games in 2011.  In his high school career, Yeager collected 94 hits, including 22 doubles, and drove in 68 runs.

Yeager’s older brother, Mitchell, also played and coached at Johnson County.