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Pete Maki Joins Duke Baseball Staff
7/20/2015 3:44:00 PM | Baseball
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke baseball head coach Chris Pollard has announced the addition of Peter Maki to the Blue Devil coaching staff. Maki will serve as an assistant coach, working with the Blue Devil pitching staff.
Maki joins the Blue Devils after eight seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Columbia University. He joined the Lions as an assistant coach in 2008 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2012.
“We are thrilled to welcome Pete, his wife Lisa and his son Will to the Duke baseball family,” said Pollard. “Pete has done a phenomenal job at Columbia from both a pitching and recruiting standpoint. Columbia had unprecedented success on the field culminating in back-to-back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament during his three years as associate head coach. We look forward to adding his tournament experience to our coaching staff.”
The Lions enjoyed tremendous success during Maki's tenure, capturing four Ivy League Championships including each of the past three seasons. The Columbia pitching staff was consistently among the best in the Ivy League under Maki's guidance, leading the conference in team ERA, opposing batting average, strikeouts and hits allowed in Ivy League games in three of the past four seasons.
“Coach Maki is a tireless worker who strives to improve his staff and himself daily,” said Boston Red Sox assistant advanced scout and Columbia alumnus Harrison Slutsky. “His best asset is his ability to identify a pitcher's strengths and ultimately, through mental and physical preparation, put them in the best position to succeed on the mound each outing.”
This past season, Columbia won its third-straight Ivy title and advanced to the final game of the NCAA Coral Gables Regional. The Lions totaled a program-record 17 saves while Adam Cline became Columbia's all-time saves leader. In addition, Harrisen Egly notched five saves and collected Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America honors while four pitchers on the 2015 squad garnered All-Ivy citations.
“As a pitching guy myself, I must say Pete did a phenomenal job at Columbia and was a huge part of their success,” Yale head coach John Stuper said. “I have no doubt he will do the same at Duke. Quite frankly, I'm glad to have him out of the league.”
Under Maki's guidance, staff ace David Speer was named the 2014 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, the second pitcher during Maki's tenure to collect the honor and the first unanimous choice since 2004. In 2013, the pitching staff set a program record with 357 strikeouts and ranked 29th nationally with a 2.48:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
“In my four years at Columbia, I improved significantly each year thanks to Coach Maki's guidance and teaching,” said Speer, currently a member of the Cleveland Indians organization. “I have never had a coach with more baseball knowledge and I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't get a chance to play for him.”
The Lions had a pitcher taken in the Major League Baseball Draft in each of the past four seasons after sending a total of six pitchers to the draft in program history prior to Maki's tenure.
Maki reunited with former head coach Brett Boretti when he joined the Columbia coaching staff in February 2008. A 2004 graduate of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., Maki lettered four seasons as a left-handed pitcher under Boretti's tutelage at Franklin and Marshall.
“Pete Maki is a tremendous person and coach,” said Boretti. “He will be a valuable asset to Duke baseball and will continue to help them build a championship program in the ACC.”
Prior to his arrival at Columbia, Maki served as an assistant coach at the University of New Haven from 2006-07. He oversaw a pitching staff that led the East Coast Conference in ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio in both 2006 and 2007. Three of his pitchers during that time went on to play professionally as well.
Maki graduated from Franklin and Marshall with a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology. As a senior, he recorded six saves, posted a team-best 3.42 ERA and was named the squad's Cy Young award winner. Additionally, Maki pitched in the prestigious Cape Cod League and the New England Collegiate Baseball League during his collegiate career.
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