Lindgren finally gets his shot as Moses Lake baseball skipper

MOSES LAKE — Long-time Columbia Basin coach Donnie Lindgren has patiently waited his turn to manage the Moses Lake baseball program.

The time is now.

The former Big Bend Community College skipper takes over the program from Quintz Whitaker (2013-17), who posted a 77-78 record during his seven-year tenure as the Chiefs head coach. Moses Lake finished fourth in the Columbia Basin Big Nine last season.

“The Chiefs welcome Donnie Lindgren to the head coaching staff. He comes in with many years of experience, including 12 years as the head baseball coach of the Big Bend CC Vikings team and many years as an assistant both at BBCC and MLHS prior to his head coaching stint,” Moses Lake athletic director Loren Sandhop said. “With Quintz, his kids are getting older and he wants to spend more time with them. His daughter is playing on the softball, and he missed a lot of that because the baseball and softball teams play in the opposite town on the same day.”

Lindgren is the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs’ football team and coached the basketball team over at Frontier Middle School, where he is a physical education instructor.

“Our expectations, not really goals, but we expect to be in the state tournament every year and to win a state championship in all honesty,” Lindgren said. “They’ve won state championships and regional championships in the summer. They’ve all competed in the (Babe Ruth League) World Series one way or another.

“My ultimate goal as a coach is to make Moses Lake baseball significant, not just in high school baseball, but produce players going on to the college level. Maybe it’s my college coaching mentality, but I feel it’s my job to push these young men to the next level.”

Lindgren applied for the Moses Lake job earlier in his career, but the school’s administration went with Pete Doumit. Lindgren moved over to the community college where he served as an assistant at Big Bend and eventually took over the head position.

“The one thing I’ve learned as I’ve matured as a coach is the kids have to have fun. It’s a baseball game, not a baseball job,” he said. “In order to not stress them out, I have to have fun too. But I told them, I’m ready to go all the time. We’re going to work our tails off in practice and they’re going to learn a lot of everyday fundamentals because that’s what wins baseball games. The biggest thing people are going to notice is the amount of energy we’re going to bring to the ballpark everyday.”

Lindgren was a part of the Big Bend team that won the 2001 Eastern Division championship and tied for third in the NWAACC tournament. That team included Chad Spellman, an all-NWAACC first team selection that hit .350 that season and later played at Washington State University.

Some of the other players that went through the Big Bend program on Lindgren’s watch include Gordon Corder, a two-time league MVP, that went on to play at Gonzaga and later signed with the Oakland A’s. Ephrata’s Kyle Heaverlo went on to play at the NCAA Division I level in Louisiana, before returning to coach with Lindgren at Big Bend. He also coached Dustin Knight, who ended up at North Carolina State and played in the NCAA Super Regionals.

The Columbia Basin Big Nine championship still goes through West Valley, but if Lindgren has anything to say, the Chiefs will be knocking on the door immediately.

“It’s a competitive league and it’s going to be interesting to see what we can do.” Lindgren said. “The 1980 state championship team has been the only (Moses Lake) team to get where we want to go, but we’re going to change that.”

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com