Alumnus named head baseball coach at Morton

Illinois Valley Community College graduate and former baseball player, Mike Fulkerson, has accepted a position as the new head baseball coach at Morton College in Cicero.

Fulkerson is glad to receive the opportunity at Morton College and wants to make the most of his first head coaching position at the college level. The Princeton native comes back to Illinois after spending the past three years as an assistant coach at the University of Rochester in upstate New York. Rochester competes at the NCAA Division III level and is known for its demanding academic standards.

Fulkerson is a big believer in playing a pressure style of baseball. "I like to run, hit and run, steal bases, take the extra base, things like that," Fulkerson said. "We’ll be in a go-mode on offense all the time."

Fulkerson, who spent two years at Concordia as an assistant baseball coach, plans on dedicating the fall season to focusing on teaching the fundamentals. "If we do the little things right, that’s the difference between winning and losing games," Fulkerson said. "We’ll work on developing our defensive skills, teach the fundamentals of hitting and have our pitchers learn the proper mechanics."