Baker is a graduate of Canton Central Catholic High School in Canton, Ohio. He advanced his playing career at Northern Kentucky University, while finishing his career at Malone University. While at Malone, Baker was an All-Confrence selection in consecutive years as a pitcher. He then continued his career on the Pioneer coaching staff as an assistant in 2014-2016 where the Pioneers reached the GLIAC conference tournament for two consecutive years, and the Pioneers were 55-47 over those two seasons of play. In seasons at Malone, Baker assisted in the development of an All-American, GLIAC Freshman of the Year, three All-Region selection and a total of 10 All-Confrence selections over the course of those two years. In 2015-16 the pitching staff ranked in the top 25 in team ERA in NCAA II.
The previous three seasons (2017-2020) Baker was the pitching coach for Madonna University, where the Crusaders were WHAC conference tournament champions in 2018. The Crusaders made the opening round of the national tournament every year. While at Madonna, Baker had numerous All-Conference selections, including the Conference Newcomers of the Year in both 2018 and 2019, both being pitchers. The staff set the school record for strikeouts in both 2018 and 2019.
Baker has led the Galion Graders of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League as pitching coach in 2015 and Head Coach from 2016-17. In the summers he was an assistant coach for the La Crosse Loggers of the Northwoods summer collegiate league.
He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Malone University and Masters in Business Administration from Madonna University.
