Bismarck State College is pleased to announce Bruce Thompson has been selected as the next head coach of the Bismarck State College baseball program.
Thompson brings eight years of college coaching experience to the Mystics. Most recently he served as an assistant coach at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. This past season he helped lead them to a 36-7 record which included a conference championship and school record for 26 consecutive wins in a row. The cyclones were ranked as high as 7th in the country and finished Region 13 runner up. Thompson helped lead one of the best offenses in the country finishing with a .353 batting average and .525 slugging percentage which were both ranked nationally in the top ten. Freshmen Will Funk was named Region player of the year and NJCAA Division III 1st team All-American and Luis Massa was named 2nd team NCJAA All-American. He also served as an assistant at SCTCC in 2012 and helped guide them to a school record 43 wins, conference championship and first ever trip to the NJCAA Division III World Series.
Before SCTCC, Thompson served as the head baseball coach at NJCAA DII Lackawanna College for 3 seasons from 2015-2018. During his tenure at Lackawanna College he led the program to an overall record of 87-49. The Falcons reached the Region XIX Championship game in 2017 with an overall record of 35-17 and were ranked as high as 13th in the country. In 2018, the Falcons won the Region XIX regular season title and again reached the Region XIX Championship game. In 3 years at Lackawanna, Thompson coached 3 All-Americans, the 2018 Region XIX player and pitcher of the year, and had 10 players awarded All-Region honors. Thompson had 20+ players move onto to play at the Division I level to schools such as University of Pittsburg, Penn State, Xavier, Hofstra, George Mason, St. Joes, Youngstown State, St. Bonaventure, and Grambling State. Overall, he had over 35+ players move onto play at 4-year schools. He had 2 players selected in the 1st year MLB Draft; in 2017 sophomore pitcher Jared Solomon was selected in the 11th round by the Cincinnati Reds and in the 2018 sophomore pitcher Joey Baran was selected in the 22nd round by the Milwaukee Brewers. Lackawanna graduate Connor Perry was selected in the 2019 MLB draft in the 28th round out of the University of Pittsburgh. In his three years at Lackawanna he placed over 20 players in summer collegiate leagues throughout the country such as the Northwoods League, Perfect Game League, NECBL, NYCBL and ACBL.
Thompson served as recruiting coordinator and assistant baseball Coach at St. Cloud State University from 2012-2015. In 2015, SCSU had their best start in school history at 23-0 and ended up setting the single season record for wins by finishing 54-5. During that year, St. Cloud was ranked #1 in NCAA Division II Baseball for a month and won the 2015 NSIC Regular Season Conference Title, NSIC Post-Season Tournament Title, and finished runner-up in the NCAA Central Region. Thompson primarily worked with the hitters, outfielders, and catchers. In 2015, St. Cloud State had a team batting average of .351 which was 2nd in NCAA Division II Baseball. He coached Michael Jurgella, who won a Gold Glove Award, was an All-American Catcher, and signed a pro-contract with the Evansville Otters in the Frontier League. Throughout his 3 years on staff, the SCSU Baseball Program was 125-28 and had 9 players sign pro baseball contracts.
Thompson played his college baseball at NCAA Division II St. Cloud State University where he was an All-Conference infielder/outfielder and 3-year starter.
Coach Thompson stated, "I am honored to be the next head baseball coach at Bismarck State College. I would like to thank Bismarck State College Athletic Director Buster Gilliss and the entire Bismarck State College athletic department and administration for this amazing opportunity."
"I really believe this is a great place to get an outstanding education and play baseball at a high level. We have the support and resources to be very successful on and off the baseball field."