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2006 Pitching Coach of the Year Honor
Gordon Alderink is in his 22nd season as pitching coach for Grand Valley State, his 12th as an assistant under Steve Lyon. GVSU has ranked among GLIAC leaders in virtually every pitching category during Alderink's tenure. Alderink was named the 2006 National College Pitching Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball, a prestigious honor given to the top pitching coach in all divisions of the NCAA.
Alderink has tutored eight All-Midwest Region pitchers in the past eight years, including a pair of American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Americans. Matt Rafeld (2004), Grant Payton (2005), Jeremy Dow (2006), Andrew Benjamin (2009), Joe Jablonski (2010), Ryan Garman (2011), Kyle Schepel (2011) and Brad Zambron (2011) have earned ABCA All-Midwest Region honors, while Rafeld, Payton and Dow were all named GLIAC Pitchers of the Year. Payton tied the GVSU record for victories with 21 during his two years under Alderink's tutelage. Payton and Rafeld are the only two Laker pitchers to earn ABCA All-American honors. Alderink has guided seven of GVSU's top 10 in career victories in the last nine years.
In 2011, the Lakers experienced perhaps their best team pitching performance in school history, GVSU notched team records in wins (52), saves (15) and shutouts (9) for a single season while collecting the first team ERA under 3.00 since 1975 as the Lakers finished with a 2.58 ERA, third best in team history and seventh in the country for Division II. The 2011 Lakers also had 335 strikeouts, tied for the sixth best mark in school history.
Alderink came to GVSU as an assistant professor in the Physical Therapy Program in 1984. He received his physical therapy training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. in 1978, Master's degree in kinesiology from the University of Michigan in 1983, and PhD in Engineering Mechanics from Michigan State University in 2003. Up until 2010, Gordie continued as a fulltime Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy program where he taught courses in kinesiology, biomechanics, orthopaedic diagnosis, spinal manual therapy, and research design. His research interests center on spine and gait biomechanics.
Alderink received his BA in Biology from Hope College in 1976 where he participated in basketball for 2 years and baseball for 4 years. He captained the baseball team as a junior and senior.
Alderink played amateur baseball for several years after college, but in the last 21 years has focused on the prevention of youth baseball injuries through teaching proper pitching mechanics. The 55-year old Alderink is married to Sally and they have two daughters, Jenny and Elizabeth.
