KEVIN TOLAR

Founder and 17U Summer Head Coach

Kevin Tolar grew up in Panama City Florida and graduated from Mosley High School in 1989.  He was drafted in the ninth round by the Chicago White Sox, and, over 19 years, played for 11 different MLB organizations. Coach Tolar pitched in the Big leagues in 2000 and 2001 with the Tigers and for the Red Sox in 2003.  From 2000-2007 he also played winter ball in four other countries.  His final year was 2007 after which he worked in the private sector for 3 years before being asked to Coach at Gulf Coast State College.

Tolar coached 4+ years at Gulf Coast State college as pitching coach until opening "The Dugout" in Panama City with partner Kyle Nichols in 2015.  He helped with local travel ball teams for 2-3 years, then in 2016 started Florida Grind Baseball.  Coach is currently working to help players with personal training and coaching travel ball to bring a much-needed opportunity for the panhandle of Florida, South Alabama and SW Georgia players to get the exposure needed for them to find the opportunity to play at a higher level than high school.

ADAM ROWE

16U Summer Head Coach, 12U Spring Head Coach

Adam Rowe was drafted in 2004 by the Kansas City Royals. After leaving the Royals in 2007 he went on to play independent baseball compiling ten years of professional baseball. During that time he played in many places including the prestigious Atlantic League, Northern League,  American Association,  and the ABL and Victorian Baseball Leagues in Australia.  The past 5 years he has played in the IBL in Ontario, Canada, and has won 4 championships.

He has been an All-Star, Team MVP, League MVP, Playoff MVP, Pitching Title holder, and Batting Title holder. Other awards include 2-time All-American, Archie Griffin Sportsmanship Award, and Conference Pitcher of the Year in college.

 Currently Adam is a baseball and fitness coach out of The Dugout Sports Training facility in Panama City, Florida. Here players have the options of one-on-one baseball and personal training as well as team, and small group, speed and agility, and strength training.

Adam is a CPT/HFTS (Certified Personal Trianer/Home Fitness Training Specialist) with focus on group training. CPR/AED/FIRST AID certified 

SCOTT HEMOND

15U Summer Head Coach

A Dunedin native, Scott started his collegiate career at University of South Florida where he was a two-time All American member of the collegiate national team.  Was also a member of Team USA. He was also a first round pick (12th overall) for the Oakland A's. Before beginning his professional career, he played in the prestigious Cape Cod League where he was the batting champion and was named the leagues MVP.  Later he was inducted into the Cape Cod Hall of Fame. In his 12-year professional career earning 7 years in the Big Leagues, he played all 8 defensive positions while in the Big Leagues which is one of the highest achievements for a player.

Coach Hemo, since retiring, has been training and coaching players to achieve their highest potential. He has many of his players that have went on to have collegiate and professional careers.  He owns and runs a baseball facility in Destin Florida called the StrikeZone.

KYLE NICHOLS

18U Summer Head Coach

After leading the state of Florida in hitting his senior year at Mosley High School, Kyle went on to play for the University of Alabama in Huntsville and then for his brother, Kevin, his senior year at Erskine College in South Carolina.  Kyle was a 3-time All-American in college and after his senior year in 2001, he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks and started his professional career.

During a 14 year professional career, he spent 5 seasons with Arizona, making it to Triple A and leading the entire organization in homeruns and RBI’s for 2 consecutive seasons (2003 and 2004). In 2003 he set the single season homerun record for Lancaster in the California League with 31, to go along with 108 RBI’s and being named to the USA Today minor league all star team. Kyle also spent time in the Cincinnati and Philadelphia organizations. Kyle is the Co-Founder of The Dugout and now spends his time passing on what he has learned to the next generation and young hitters. To see more about Kyle and his career, including video highlights, visit www.nicholsbaseball.com

MICHAEL BRAY

14U Spring Head Coach

Certified AABC Coach, and Player Evaluator 27 years. From 1990 to 1998, was a Doyle Baseball Area Representative and Level 1 Instructor/Evaluator as well as a volunteer Baseball Coach for a local high school in Panama City. FL (1993); spent the Spring/Summer Season of 1995 in Phenix, AZ as the Assistant Director of Baseball Operations for Doyle Baseball. From 1998 to present, have been coaching (ages 8 to 21) and have evaluated over 30 high school and junior college players for potential MLB draft elligability and college placement.

TIM PATTERSON

14U Summer Team Head Coach

Coach Tim Patterson is a 2002 graduate of Fort Walton Beach High School in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  After high school he moved to Jacksonville, Florida to attend college.  In 2006 he became the Assistant Coach/Pitching Coach at Lakeside Junior High School in Orange Park, FL going 23-0 winning the County Champions title.  Coach Tim found a passion in coaching and joined the North Florida Hurricanes staff in Jacksonville, FL the fall of 2006 where he began providing lessons and coaching.  Under the tutelage of the Hurricanes Coach Mark "Soupy" Campbell, Coach Tim gained much experience in coaching the mechanics of hitting, pitching, and the art of putting on a fantastic practice. In 2007, he took a 12u Hurricane team to the annual Cooperstown Tournament proudly finishing 5th place. In 2008, a private group hired Coach Tim as the Head Coach of the 9u Team Mizuno as he recruited players from all around the greater Jacksonville area and they found much success finishing 3rd or better in all tournaments played.  He returned to the Destin area in 2009 and began working alongside Coach Scott "Hemo" Hemond at the Strike Zone and Scott Hemond School of Baseball where he grinds providing lessons, camps, and has coached in a variety of capacities for ages 11u-18u teams.  

In 2011 as a 27 year old, Coach Tim received a baseball scholarship to play at the NAIA's Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska where he pitched as both a starter and out of the bullpen.  In his sophomore season of 2013 he was nationally ranked 5th in total hits allowed (35), 32nd in opponent batting average (.203), and 33rd in hits allowed per 9 innings (6.65).  As the oldest player on his team, Coach Tim took a huge leadership role as the Champions of Character representative to the community.  In his four years at Peru State they won two Heartland of America Athletic Conference championships which lead to two National Tournaments appearences.  Also during his four years they held the best consectutive four year record in school history to date (135-69).  Coach Tim graduated Peru State College in 2015 with his Bachelor's of Science in Business Management and remains fully involved with Scott Hemond School of Baseball in Destin, FL.