ST. GEORGE — Dixie State head baseball coach Chris Pfatenhauer announced on Wednesday the addition of Zach Wilkins as the program’s new pitching coach.
Wilkins joins the Trailblazer coaching staff after a two-year stint as a graduate assistant coach at Pac-12 member Arizona, where he helped lead the Wildcats to a 66-46 overall record during his time in Tucson. Prior to his arrival at Arizona, Wilkins played two seasons at the University of Nevada for current Arizona head coach Jay Johnson, where he appeared in 35 career games with eight starts and posted a combined 5-3 record with 54 strikeouts in 67.0 innings pitched.
Wilkins was a member of the Wolfpack’s first-ever Mountain West Conference championship team as a junior in 2015 and helped guide Nevada to the MWC tournament championship game in 2016. He also played two seasons at Palomar (CA) College and was part of two Pacific Coast Conference championship teams in 2013 and 2014. He is the son of former Major Leaguer Dean Wilkins, who pitched for the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros from 1989-92.
“We are extremely excited to add Zach to our baseball family,” Pfatenhauer said. “Zach played for tremendous coaching staffs in college and has worked with great staffs as well. He’s had awesome mentors and will bring a great knowledge and energy to our pitching staff. We are excited to have Coach Wilkins continue the growth of our young pitchers on and off the field.”
Dixie State wrapped up the 2019 season with a 35-19 overall record, which was a 10-win improvement from the 2018 campaign, and included a 23-13 mark and a third-place finish in its first season of RMAC play.