Kendrick Epling's baseball vision instrumental in Tech-Epling reconciliation

Jul. 14—Baseball has been a part of Kendrick Epling for all of his three decades. He was raised in a baseball family, and he played the game collegiately. There's a stadium on Ragland Road that prominently bears the family name for all to see.

He probably couldn't get away from the game if he tried — not that he wants to. At 32, it's still as much a part of him as it was when he was pitching no-hitters and perfect games at Independence High School.

Only now, his involvement in the game has naturally changed. As the director of field operations at Linda K. Epling Stadium — named for his grandmother — he wants to increase the game's visibility in the area.

As part of that vision, he felt there was a wrong that needed to be righted or else that would never be possible.

It was over three years ago that the WVU Tech baseball team was no longer welcomed at Epling Stadium. A series of disputes between Kendrick's grandfather, stadium owner Doug Epling, and Golden Bears head coach Lawrence Nesselrodt soured a relationship that had predated Tech's 2017-18 move to Beckley. Doug decided to no longer allow the Golden Bears use of the stadium.

Two weeks ago, it was announced that, after some negotiating, the situation had been resolved. Next season, the Golden Bears will again play their home games in their hometown.

And right in the middle of those talks was none other than Kendrick Epling.

"So what happened was Jefferson was playing Greenbrier East (at Epling Stadium), and I had been running the stadium for a little bit at the time," he recalled. "Ness had a kid from Jefferson (J.J. Polvinale) that committed to Tech and he came and watched him play. We just ran into each other and we just started talking and had a really good conversation. We talked for about 10 or 15 minutes."

That conversation may have been the icebreaker, but Epling makes it known that perhaps none of it would have been possible without J.P. Stevens, one of his best friends and a former head coach at Greater Beckley Christian and Woodrow Wilson. Stevens is now the recruiting coordinator for Nesselrodt.

"He called Ness and they were talking, and me and him were on the conversation and I said, 'I would love to have them back.' So J.P. Stevens — he doesn't want the credit, but I'm going to give him the credit — was the one that got the talks going," Epling said. "He was talking to me and talking to Ness, and I was telling J.P. on the phone, 'Yeah, I definitely want them back. Absolutely. It's been almost five years too long.'"

Epling took it from there. He, perhaps, was caught in the middle all along, the grandson of the stadium's owner and a former player for Nesselrodt. But he had a vision and was not going to be stopped.

It ended up being easier than he might have expected.

"I walked into his (Doug's) kitchen and said, 'Hey, I can get this deal done if you want,'" Epling said. "He said, 'Absolutely. I want them back.' That's all the convincing that it (took). There was no convincing." Doug and Kendrick met with WVU Tech Director of Athletics Kenny Howell to work out the details. Quickly, the last three years no longer mattered.

"Like I told Ness, and I told Kenny as well, I said we're not looking at the past. We're just building a stronger relationship than what we had five years ago," Kendrick said. "I told them in the meeting, I don't want anything brought up about any of the disagreements — and I don't even really know everything. I told them, like, that's not going to be brought up. This is a new journey, per se. Whatever is in the past is in the past."

"It's an absolute win-win situation for the college, our baseball program and for Beckley," Nesselrodt said. "Kendrick is excited about the opportunity of managing there at the stadium. It's just an opportunity to create a lot of excitement for baseball in Beckley. Of course our goals are set high, not just at the college, but we want to establish Beckley as one of the best baseball towns in West Virginia.

"We're tremendously excited about working at the stadium. It is without question one of the top three facilities in this state."

Doug Epling is thrilled to have the situation resolved and looking forward to watching as a baseball fan. Paperwork remains to be finalized, but the deal is set.

"I'm real pleased," Doug said. "Me and Kendrick and Kenny sat down over lunch and (it was) very simple, very cordial. Kendrick was the one who did the footwork and arranged the agreement. It was very cordial. It was 10 minutes' business."

Just like that, all is right between the two sides. And everyone seemingly will benefit.

The baseball team now has its biggest recruiting tool back, an attractive home stadium with field turf to significantly cut back on rainouts that will also allow for more outdoor practices, barring extreme low temperatures. After all, college baseball season starts in February — a month not exactly known for baseball weather in southern West Virginia.

The recruiting benefit has already played out.

"When Kendrick approached me looking to move forward, it was the same week that I had two guys that have both signed with us from Surry Community College," Nesselrodt said. "One was a shortstop who was a Division II JUCO All-American. There's no question the opportunity of playing at that facility had a big impact on his decision making."

It also eliminates the need for the team to travel to cities such as Charleston and Bluefield for "home" games. And the same holds true for Tech fans. Many of the players are from local schools, and now their families will be able to watch them play.

This year alone the Golden Bears have signed Shady Spring's Tyler Mackey, Woodrow Wilson's Isaiah Patterson and Greater Beckley Christian teammates Reece Patterson, Connor Miller and Eli Grubb.

"The excitement that it's going to bring for our players to have practice and games is just immeasurable as far as the impact that it's going to have on our program," Nesselrodt said.

"I'm real tickled to have our home school up there, and I think the public will like it, too," Doug Epling said. "We just hope the community comes out and supports it. It will be exciting having baseball that I can sit back and relax and watch."

Not that the stadium has remained vacant — even with the West Virginia Miners, for whom the venue primarily was built in 2010 — going dark this summer. A number of local high school and middle school teams have used the field, as well as a couple out-of-state college teams stopping en route to other destinations.

Kendrick took on his new role as director of field operations in February after his dad Tim was involved in a head-on collision on his way to church in Ansted. Tim suffered severe injuries but Doug credited the grace of God for his survival.

Like Tim has spoken of so many times, Kendrick has a goal to make baseball better in the area. His outline to that end is laid out.

"My goal is to make Raleigh County and southern West Virginia the epicenter of baseball — high school, middle school, Little League Baseball — in West Virginia," he said. "You can't have the best programs, what I say the epicenter of baseball, without your Little Leagues being good, without your Babe Ruth (Leagues) being competitive, without your middle schools being good. That all comes up. Those three right there is how you have good high school baseball programs.

"A high school coach only has them for four years. So when these kids get 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years old, that's when the development should start. That's been my goal. The little travel teams we get in here, that's what we're trying to do is put them in a position — just like the West Virginia Wolfpack on Fireworks Night. I wanted 8-year-olds to get that vision of playing in front of thousands of people. Because you can't fulfill a dream without having a vision first. The goal is to instill a vision in a little kid at 8 years old and then they'll have that vision and they will know what they need to work on. It starts in the Little League programs."

He certainly gets a big endorsement from his grandfather.

"Kendrick is really exciting and he has done a phenomenal job," Doug said. "Arranging things and scheduling things, his mind-thought, the vision he has. The vision is great, whether we ever reach that vision or not. He has just done a terrific job. I am so proud of him."

And the way Kendrick sees it, having the Golden Bears playing at Epling Stadium is imperative for that vision to be realized.

"We're building to make southern West Virginia the best baseball place in West Virginia," he said. "Without Tech here, that can't happen."

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on

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Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5