Oklahoma City University baseball coach Denney Crabaugh will be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Jan. 3, 2015 at the ABCA Convention in Orlando, Fla.
Crabaugh is already a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Crabaugh owns a record of 1,268-398-2 (.761 winning percentage) in 26 years as OCU coach.
“Keith Lytle and Denney Crabaugh are the best baseball coaches in the state of Oklahoma, and they have run the best program in the state of Oklahoma for the last 25 years,” said Ted Ledbetter, the 2004 NAIA player of the year. “I’m very, very, very proud to have been a part of it.”
Crabaugh has guided the Stars to the 2005 national championship and three NAIA runner-up finishes in 12 trips to the NAIA World Series. OCU won an NAIA single-season record 73 wins in 2004.
At Oklahoma City, Crabaugh has directed OCU to 10 Sooner Athletic Conference championships, nine SAC Tournament crowns, four Opening Round titles, five super regional titles, five regional championships, three area titles and two district crowns. The Stars reeled off 12 consecutive 50-win seasons from 1999-2010 and have the NAIA’s winningest program since 1991.
Crabaugh is the sixth coach ever to be named ABCA NAIA coach of the year twice – in 2003 and ’05. He has also been Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association coach of the year in 1992, 2002 and 2005. OCU has taken NAIA scholar team four times.
In 1987, Crabaugh came to OCU as assistant coach to the late Charley Lodes. Crabaugh has coached 81 all-Americans, 62 NAIA scholar-athletes, seven NAIA players of the year, four NAIA Hall of Famers, 62 Major League Baseball draftees and 134 future professionals at OCU.
Crabaugh began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Southeastern Oklahoma State and also coached in Ada, Okla., on the high school level.
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