Lance Berkman is the fifth head coach in HCU Baseball program’s history. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball, 12 with the Houston Astros, two with the St. Louis Cardinals and one each with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. He was a career .293 hitter with 366 home runs, 422 doubles, 30 triples, 1,234 RBIs and 1,146 runs, who made the All-Star Game six times. Berkman was named National League Comeback Player of the Year and won the World Series with the Cardinals in 2011. He was inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame in 2020.
The 1997 NCBWA National Collegiate Player of the Year at Rice, Berkman hit .431 with 41 home runs, 134 RBIs and 109 runs to lead the Owls to their first College World Series appearance. He hit .385 for his collegiate career with 67 homers and 272 RBIs to earn All-America honors twice, was elected to the Rice Hall of Fame in 2005 and the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. Berkman was selected in the first round with the 16th overall selection by the Astros in the 1997 draft.
Since retiring from Major League Baseball in 2013, Berkman spent four seasons as the head coach at Second Baptist High School, guiding the Eagles to the TAPPS 4A state championship in 2016. Most recently, he was an assistant coach at the University of St. Thomas, where the Celts went 17-16 in only the second season of the program’s existence.
Berkman was born in Waco, but was a standout at Canyon High School in New Braunfels, where he hit .539 with eight home runs as a senior. He and his wife, Cara, have four daughters.
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