Azusa Pacific University Athletics

Kirk Nieuwenhuis was named the eighth head coach of Azusa Pacific ahead of the 2022 spring season. Nieuwenhuis returned to Azusa Pacific as an associate head coach for two seasons under Paul Svagdis after retiring from professional baseball and a six-year MLB career.

Nieuwenhuis led the Cougars to the first-ever PacWest Baseball Tournament title in the spring of 2023, as the Cougars went a perfect 3-0 at the conference’s inaugural postseason tournament to capture an automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional. The 2023 season marked the program’s sixth-consecutive NCAA postseason appearance.

In his first season at the helm of the program in 2022, Nieuwenhuis led the Cougars to a 38-19 overall record, including a 23-9 conference mark. The Cougars hosted and won the NCAA West Region #2 tournament to advance to the Super Regional. 

Nieuwenhuis has coached 12 All-Region performers and 15 All-PacWest performers, having three be First Team selections since he took over in 2022. 

Nieuwenhuis played six years of Major League Baseball, primarily as a centerfielder, spending the better part of four seasons with the New York Mets, sandwiched around a brief stop with the Los Angeles Angels, before playing another two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.  From a power standpoint, Nieuwenhuis’ finest year came in 2016 with the Brewers, when in 125 games he slugged 13 home runs and collected 44 RBIs to go along with 18 doubles.

He broke into the Majors as a 24-year-old in 2012 and enjoyed a fine rookie campaign, batting .252 over 91 games, hitting seven home runs to go along with 12 doubles and 28 RBIs.  He appeared in 226 games over three-plus seasons before the Mets traded him to the Angels in late May of 2015.  However, 17 days later and after just 10 games in Southern California, he was back with the Mets and a month later, he became the first player ever to hit three home runs in a game at Citi Field, crushing bombs to leftfield, centerfield, and right field, all from the left side of the plate.  Later that season he became the first Cougar ever to play in a World Series as the Mets fell to the Kansas City Royals in five games.

The Mets drafted Nieuwenhuis in the third round of the 2008 MLB draft, the 100th player selected and  the fourth highest selection ever for a Cougar.  It took him less than two full seasons to get to Triple-A Buffalo.  During his 2011 campaign at Buffalo he batted .298 with six home runs and 17 doubles before an injury ended his campaign. However, the following season a fully healthy Nieuwenhuis was called up to the Mets in early April and stuck with the parent club for the 2012 campaign.

Nieuwenhuis enjoyed an outstanding three-year career (2006-08) at Azusa Pacific, teaming with eventual MLB All-Star Steven Vogt and sixth-round MLB pick Scott Hodsdon to lead the Cougars to back-to-back NAIA World Series appearances (2007 and 2008) and an impressive 97-22 (.815) record, which included a 61-11 Golden State Athletic Conference mark and two conference crowns.  As a 2008 junior, Nieuwenhuis, Baseball America’s 2008 NAIA Preseason Player of the Year and later an NAIA All-American first team selection, batted .400 (90-for-225) with 20 doubles, 15 home runs, 68 RBIs, and a program single-season record 84 runs. Nieuwenhuis has also set two career records with 12 triples and 190 runs.

As a 2007 sophomore, Nieuwenhuis batted .399 (87-for-218) for the Cougars with ten home runs in 59 games to help lead Azusa Pacific to its first NAIA World Series appearance since 1984. He finished in the GSAC top 5 in batting average (.399), hits (87), runs (66), doubles (22), triples (5), total bases (149) and stolen bases (18).  He hit safely in 11 of the Cougars’ 12 playoff games, including 9 multi-hit games, and batted .479 (23-for-48) with 5 doubles, 4 home runs, 15 RBIs and 13 runs in the postseason.  His finest postseason effort came in a 14-2 victory over Point Loma in the NAIA regional playoffs when he drove in a career-high 6 runs.

Nieuwenhuis came to Azusa Pacific from Denver Christian High in Highlands Ranch, Colo., where he was a three-sport standout.  He was a two-time all-state selection in baseball, including his 2005 senior season when he batted .500 in 21 games while going 5-0 on the mound with a 1.03 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 34 innings play.  He also played three seasons of football and another of basketball. 

Kirk, who was drafted during his junior year at Azusa Pacific, came back to earn his bachelor’s degree in business following his 2012 rookie season with the Mets.  He and his wife, Bethany, also an APU alum, live in Azusa with their two children.