Ryan Bay
Head Baseball Coach
After a successful three-year reign at Bacone College, Ryan Bay begins his first season as the head coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Bay becomes just the fifth coach of the Ranger baseball program over the past 40 years.
“Ryan Bay fits the criteria we were looking for in our baseball coach,” stated Northwestern Director of Athletics Bob Battisti. “Work ethic, enthusiasm, energy and character were the words I kept hearing as I checked his references. We are excited Ryan has decided to lead our baseball program.”
During the 2008 season, Bay led Bacone College to a 41-14 overall record and as high as an 18th ranking in the NAIA. Bay joined Bacone during the 2006 season and spurred a 20-game turn around from the previous season, with a 29-19 record. During his second season, he finished with a 35-21 record and won the Red River Athletic Conference North Division Title, the first in the school’s history.
Before serving at Bacone, Bay spent from 2003-05 as the head coach at William Woods (Mo.) University. During his inaugural season, Bay guided the program to its first winning season in school history. In his second year at the helm, Bay defeated seven NAIA nationally ranked opponents in route to qualifying for the Regional Tournament, a first for the program.
Bay’s accomplishments don’t just stop on the field, they also carry over to the classroom. In his six years as a head coach, he has raised the academic bar and improved his team’s grade point average by a large margin.
“I am excited about coming to Northwestern and being a part of its rich athletic tradition,” remarked Bay. “I am committed to making the baseball program a source of pride both on the campus and in the community for years to come.”
A native of Perry, Bay also has been an assistant coach at Northern Oklahoma College-Enid, serving as a hitting/outfield coach and recruiting coordinator from 2001-02. In 2002, the Jets finished in third place in the Junior College World Series.
While in Enid during the summers of 2001 and 2002, he was the head coach of the Enid Pastimers, a collegiate summer league team.
Bay played his prep ball at Perry High School under current Northern Oklahoma College-Enid head coach Raydon Leaton. He was a four-year starter and two-time all-conference performer in the Heart of America Conference as an outfielder at Missouri Valley College. During his junior year, Bay led the conference in stolen bases with 39.
Bay received his bachelor’s of science in 1999 from Missouri Valley College and holds a master’s degree in education from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, which he earned in 2002.
Pete Nesseralla
Assistant Baseball Coach
pdnesseralla@nwosu.edu
Pete Nesseralla returns to Northwestern Oklahoma State after 17 years of working in player development in the New England area.
A proven recruiter, who recruited Northwestern’s only two-time All-American Tom Zanca, Nesseralla will be the recruiting coordinator and hitting coach in addition to being the assistant coach. Nesseralla has sent more than a dozen hitters into the Major League Baseball Draft and has several former players in the minor leagues.
Since leaving Northwestern Oklahoma State, the Braintree, Mass., native, has worked at The South Shore Baseball Club in Hingham, Mass., with former Ranger Rick Delvecchio. He worked both on individual instruction and coached The South Shore Baseball Club’s highly successful Seadogs AAU program. Nesseralla also coached his former Braintree American Legion team to the state finals in 1996 and took the Weymouth Legion team, who had three players drafted in the MLB draft, to the state finals in 2000.
A familiar face that played on the 1989 Ranger baseball team, Nesseralla was a three-time all-conference selection during his collegiate career. Throughout his career, he blasted 45 home runs, had 202 runs batted in, racked up 40 hit by pitches and stole 50 bases, while holding a .386 average.
Nesseralla still shares the Northwestern single game record for most home runs in a game with three against New Mexico State and shares the record for most runs batted in during a game with nine.
Nesseralla earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Northwestern and currently is working on his master’s degree in education and is an academic adviser for Northwestern’s Upward Bound program.
Travis Bernard
Graduate Assistant Baseball Coach
Travis Bernard begins his first year in the coaching ranks after a successful three-year career of playing at Bacone College.
After a year of playing soccer at NCAA Division I Fresno State, Bernard played from 2006-08 as a centerfielder at Bacone College. During the 2007 season, he was named the Red River Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Bernard was a first-team all-conference performer all three seasons for the Warriors.
In 2008, then under the direction of current Ranger coach Ryan Bay, Bernard helped lead Bacone to a 41-14 overall record. He ranked second in the conference with a .446 batting average. Last season, he hit 19 doubles and three home runs.
In three seasons for the Warriors, Bernard had a career batting average of .430, hit 46 doubles, eight triples and 12 home runs. He stole 70 bases, scored 215 runs and drove in 142 runs.
The Cypress, Calif., native was a first-team All-Orange County selection while playing for Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, Calif.
Bernard graduated from Bacone with a bachelor’s in health and physical education and currently is working on a master’s in secondary education while at Northwestern.
Gary Harley
Volunteer Assistant Baseball Coach
Gary Harley begins his second season as a coach at Northwestern and will work this season with the outfielders.
Harley comes to Northwestern after a year and a half of coaching outfielders at Colby Community College (Kan.). During the summer of 2007, he helped coach the Cheyenne, Wyo., Post 6 American Legion team.
Prior to his coaching stints, Harley played outfield for a year each at Miles Community College in Miles City, Mont., and at Colby.
Originally from Cheyenne, Wyo., Harley attended Cheyenne East High School.