Mike Cummins was named East Bay head baseball coach in June of 2017 after serving in an interim role beginning September of 2016.
In 2023, Cummins led the Pioneers to their first CCAA Tournamnent appearance since he took over the program. East Bay was the No. 3 seed in the tournament that season.
Since taking over the program, Cummins has seen several Pioneers excel on and off the field. There were over 15 All-CCAA selections and in 2022, the first CCAA Male Scholar Athlete in school history for Cal State East Bay (Mark Woinarowicz) was part of the program.
One of Cummins' most notable Pioneers he has coached is Alex Vesia, a left-handed pitcher who was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2018. Vesia's professional baseball career led him to the pitching staff for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where his outstanding work as a reliever helped the Dodgers win a 2024 World Series Championship.
Before coming to CSUEB, Cummins spent the 2016 season as an assistant coach at San Jose State. Overall, he brings more than 35 years of coaching experience to the Pioneers, including 10 combined seasons as the head coach at Santa Clara and San Francisco State.
In his six seasons at the helm of San Francisco State, 14 Gators received All-CCAA recognition, including the program’s first conference Freshman of the Year selection in 2013. He took over a program in 2009 that had finished 14-33 the previous season and improved their record by eight wins. SFSU’s 22 total wins in 2010 were the program's most since 2006, and the team’s 17 CCAA wins in 2014 and 2015 were the most since the Gators tallied 21 conference wins in 2004.
Prior to that, Cummins served as the head coach at Walla Walla (Wash.) Community College, where he guided the Warriors to a 151-121 (.555) record in six seasons. In 2007, Walla Walla was crowned East Region Tournament Champion and received a bid to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Championship Tournament.
Prior to his time at Walla Walla, Cummins spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons as an assistant coach at Washington State.
An alumnus of Santa Clara University, Cummins had a 24-year coaching and playing stint at his alma mater, including a four-year run as the head coach from 1997 to 2001. With Cummins on staff, seven Broncos earned All-America honors, three were named West Coast Conference Player of the Year, three others won WCC Pitcher of the Year and two SCU rookies garnered conference Newcomer of the Year awards. He also played a role in the development of five Bronco catchers who went on to sign professional contracts, beginning with former Kansas City Royal Mike MacFarlane.
A native of Monterey, California, Cummins played two seasons at Monterey Peninsula College before transferring to Santa Clara in the fall of 1977. He was a standout catcher on the 1978 and 1979 Santa Clara teams, helping the Broncos to an NCAA Regional appearance in 1978 and earning Second-Team All-Northern California Baseball Association honors as a senior in 1979.
After graduating from Santa Clara in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Cummins signed a professional contract with the Salem Senators of the Northwest League, an independent Class A team, and batted .302 while leading the team in RBIs in his only year with the club.
Cummins began his coaching career in 1980 at Buchser High School in Santa Clara, where he guided the baseball team to a second place finish in conference. He also served as the head football coach of the junior varsity program at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California.
Cummins is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association and Association of Professional Ball Players of America, and sits on the ABCA/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award Committee.
