Tanner Spencer finds himself among some very elite company in the U.S. college baseball world.
Across all three levels of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) baseball, he is one of just seven Canadians serving as head coaches and the only one from Saskatchewan.
The University of Mary dugout boss is proud of his prairie roots and is always quick to find ways to give back to the game in his home province and country.
Along with assistant coaches Ty Barclay (Ontario) and Daniel Martin (British Columbia), they have populated the Marauders roster with 18 Canadians, including Kalem Haney (Lethbridge), Jaxon Zanolli (Olds) and Adam Golby (Coronation).
They also had Carter Beck (Carnduff) before he moved up to Indiana State University.
“We’ve really loved our Canadian pipeline and there’s a level of gratitude from most of the Canadian kids that just doesn’t come because it’s just not the normal,” Spencer told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.
“Just knowing that the journey is a little more challenging, there’s usually a chip on the shoulder and usually an expectation that it’s not going to be easy and there will be some trials and tribulations in the process.”
It’s a story that the Craik native knows all too well.
SMALL TOWN DREAMS
He calls it “windshield time.”
Growing up on a farm near a whistle-stop community along Highway 11 between Regina and Saskatoon, Spencer says his early journey in baseball was spent on highways.
He played every sport he possibly could, admitting baseball wasn’t exactly a household staple.
“My dad was as dialed in on lessons as I was, because he was trying to learn baseball,” Spencer laughed.
He was pretty good at the game, catching the attention of Baseball Sask’s Greg Brons early on, earning himself a spot on provincial teams at national tournaments.
In 2010, the right-hander suited up in the Baseball Canada Cup in Kindersley, pitching well enough to get called to the Junior National Team.
It added a lot of miles on the Spencer family vehicles.
“It’s cool to look back on the memories but it’s probably even cooler that there’s so much windshield time with your parents and so much windshield time with your coaches,” he said. “You build some pretty good relationships through the game.”
Little did the hurler know, the travel wasn’t about to stop.
JETTING WEST
Nearly six hours west, Vauxhall Academy of Baseball came calling for Spencer.
He wanted to take the game more seriously so he wasn’t “throwing in a barn back in Craik during the winter.”
It gave Spencer the opportunity to understand what life would be like away from home while immersing himself in the sport to see if he had a shot at taking it to the next level.
“Vauxhall is a special place,” he said. “You learn that the people definitely make the place – it doesn’t really matter about all the rest because if there are really good humans that genuinely care about you and want to see you be successful, it’s going to be a good experience.”
Spencer also got a taste of summer collegiate ball in 2012 as he suited up for the Moose Jaw Miller Express, posting a 4.70 ERA in six appearances.
Learning from head coach Les McTavish and assistant coach Jim Kotkas, Spencer says it gave him an “on-boarding” experience for school, where he landed at Colby Community College (2014-2015) and the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2016-2017.
SETTING THE TONE
After being unable to stay healthy and eventually requiring Tommy John surgery, Spencer decided to get into coaching after his college playing career was done.
He returned to the University of Nebraska at Kearney for the 2017-2018 season as their pitching coach and strength and conditioning coach, returning home to serve as pitching coach for those two summers with the Miller Express.
Spencer then headed to Minot State as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in 2018 before taking over head coach at UMary in 2019.
The Marauders have since set school records for wins in a season twice, qualifying for their first two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournaments in program history.
Spencer says it’s important for him to set the tone, and the bar, high coming into every season.
“They (the players) want to be held accountable,” he said, contrary to the belief that athletes don’t want responsibility. “I think people respond really, really well to having hard conversations and being honest if they know you’re doing it with the interest of helping them grow.”
Spencer says his coaching philosophy hasn’t changed much over the last few years, adding he has taken more of a data-driven approach to give players and coaches more knowledge to make informed decisions.
MORE TO COME
It’s the data and the overall access to information that is allowing Spencer and his staff to reach into Canada every year to enhance his roster.
He says the quality of talent coming from north of the border has increased dramatically, even since he was playing less than a decade ago.
Spencer says physicality and knowledge of training have brought many athletes into baseball instead of other sports and it’s paying dividends for the game.
“It’s definitely substantially closer than most people think,” he said of Canadian athletes playing college baseball.
“We are so technological now, it’s just one email away from finding a junior college or one email finding a school that maybe doesn’t spend as much time in Canada.”
The non-negotiable, however, is the athlete needs to be willing to put in the elbow grease.
“You have to be the hardest-working guy in the room,” Spencer said. “The better the room gets, the higher the standard becomes – and the one thing that no one can ever take away from you is if you’re consistently the hardest-working person in the room.”
It’s that hard work, along with plenty of “windshield time,” which has allowed him to carve his own Canadian place in the American college baseball world.
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