Community Sports

New Gig Harbor baseball coach comes from a family of Peninsula Seahawks

The Gig Harbor Tides baseball program has a new leader in coach Ben Sleeter, who has guided the Tides to six straight wins to open the season and a No. 2 Class 3A state ranking by MaxPreps.

Sleeter is a baseball lifer and California transplant who moved to the area with his young family in 2014.

He immediately got involved in coaching and coached the current crop of high school stars when they played in youth little leagues, on Narrows Baseball summer travel teams and on to the high school level. He was an assistant coach for Peninsula for the past four seasons.

Gig Harbor opening

Then former Gig Harbor coach Shane Hanon departed for the coaching job at Olympic College in Bremerton after two seasons with the Tides in which he compiled a 21-23 record. That left open the head coaching position of a well-respected program that won two state championships (1997 and 2017) under longtime coach Pete Jansen.

The coaching opportunity was right there for Sleeter to reach out and grab. But two huge factors tugged on Sleeter’s heart — his sons. Matthew, a senior catcher and first baseman, is batting .357 for Peninsula this season. Daniel, a promising freshman pitcher, has a 1.75 ERA with six strikeouts in four innings pitched.

Some people might view leaving one high school to go to its rival as akin to Luke Skywalker knocking on the door of the Death Star. Sleeter didn’t see it that way.

“It was a big decision. Nothing gives me more joy than to watch my sons play baseball,” Sleeter said. “I loved Peninsula, it’s a great school but it was also time to let them hear new voices. It’s never an easy thing, playing when your dad’s the coach. But it’s a little tough, I don’t get to see them play and have to watch them on videotape after I get home. But it does make for some real interesting family dinner conversations though.”

The Sleeter family from left, Rachel, Matthew, Daniel and Ben, after a game Daniel played in a few years ago. Photo courtesy of Ben Sleeter.

A Seahawk family

Since Sleeter’s wife, Rachel, is also a Peninsula assistant volleyball coach, he might be ordering takeout for dinner on April 25 if the Tides beat the Seahawks. All kidding aside, the family remains as close as can be and fully supportive of Ben’s decision to become the Tides head coach.

Since Daniel is a freshman, might he choose to play for his Dad at some point?

“That’s 100% his decision, but I think if you asked him he’d say ‘nooo way’! He’s really enjoying his time there, he loves the school,” Sleeter said. “He’s got some good, young teammates there and I think he’s looking forward to the challenge of beating up on his old man.”

Nobody has done that yet this season. The Tides kept their undefeated ways going with a 7-1 win over Prairie on March 29.

Gig Harbor looks to be a complete team with equal parts hitting, fielding and pitching, but Sleeter has also been impressed in other ways. “I’ve walked into a situation with a group of kids that I couldn’t be more impressed with frankly. They are outstanding teammates that really play hard for each other.”

Playing free

The Tides have produced numerous college players. The area is known as a hotbed for baseball talent that produced current major league player in Michael Toglia of the Colorado Rockies.

But results were uneven the past couple years. Last season, the Tides lost five out of six in one stretch before coming on late to qualify for state, where they lost 13-1 to Mercer Island.

So far this season, the Tides ship is sailing smooth with Sleeter at the helm.

“My feeling has been that there were always a lot of talented players that have come through Gig Harbor and nothing has changed in that regard for many, many years.” Sleeter said, “But the tack that I’ve tried is to let them relax and play the game. It’s important that they know they can trust me and that I trust them. If hitting slows or when mistakes happen I want them playing loose and not worried. I just want their mind clear and their natural ability to take over.”

Senior slugger and team leader Daniel Porras concurs.

“Our whole team likes Ben’s coaching style, mainly because he can balance having fun and being efficient,” Porras said. “He is a great coach because he can competitively coach us in games and makes everyone get better every day.”

Sleeter feels the responsibility is shared and the players must do their part as well.

Peninsula catcher Matthew Sleeter. Photo by Bryce Carithers

“The biggest thing about high school baseball is that you have to play good team baseball, you have to be good teammates and you gotta pick each other up. If you don’t have that trust between teammates it’s going to be really hard to be successful and that’s our focus because ultimately our goal is to win a state championship.”

League title could come down to local schools

But his first focus is winning the inaugural Puget Sound League baseball championship. He might just have the team to do it, but he’ll have to knock off some old friends and a couple of his talented and hungry sons first. Both teams are undefeated in conference play. Gig Harbor sits atop of the Narrows Division while Peninsula leads the Nisqually Division.

Unfortunately the rivals play only once this season because the schools play in different divisions. Sleeter and Peninsula coach Matt Thomas are good friends but it’s a good bet that each have the rivalry game circled on their calendars.

The Tides hope to compete with Thomas, the Seahawks and all PSL foes for many more league championships down the line. Sleeter is comfortable and content with where he is and say’s he will not take another coaching job in the future.

“There was only one high school coaching job I would ever take, as I’m not coaching my kids so that removes Peninsula. It’s Gig Harbor, this is a school with a winning history and an incredible amount of talent. It’s one of those top-tier coaching jobs in the state and I’ll be here as long as they’ll have me. So we’ll take it game by game and year by year but who wouldn’t want to coach a program with such a bright future.”

Gig Harbor plays at Silas on Tuesday, April 1, then hosts the Rams at Sehmel Field at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 2.