This former Richland Bomber went from player to coach at Community Colleges of Spokane

Bryan Winston reminisced about his playing days at Richland High School on Friday as his Community Colleges of Spokane baseball team prepared to hit in the batting cages at Bomber Field.

With snow still on the ground and more falling Friday in Spokane, Winston called former high school teammate Grant Richardson to see if his team could stop by on their way to Clackamas Community College, where they played Saturday and will again Sunday. No problem, the Richland coach said.

“We practiced outside for two weeks straight,” said Winston, noting the nice February weather in Spokane. “We took our team picture on a Tuesday, then woke up to 7 inches of snow the next morning. It’s slowly melting, but it’s been a week and a half. We are working out at a place called the Warehouse, but we have to work around Gonzaga’s schedule.”

Winston, who graduated in 2003, played second base for the Bombers under Hall of Fame coach Ben Jacobs.

His baseball career continued at Spokane, and then at Gonzaga University, where he finished his playing career in 2008.

Winston, 32, was hired to coach the Sasquatch last summer. His team won its first two games last weekend against Big Bend 18-4 and 13-7.

“After I finished at Gonzaga, I came back to the Falls,” Winston said. “I started as an unpaid assistant.”

He garnered a paid assistant job five years ago, and now he runs the show.

“Crazy how all that works,” he said.

Winston, who has a master’s degree in secondary education from Gonzaga, teaches three classes at CCS — stress management, diversity in sports and leadership dynamics, which is geared to those who want to become personal trainers, or those who want to own their own gym.

Winston said he will be working to get more Tri-City players on his roster. Right now, he has pitcher Bradley Poletski from Hanford High School. For next season, he has commitments from Kamiakin’s Chase Grillo and Conner Banta.

Remembering his roots

Winston and his wife, Jess, get back to the Tri-Cities as often as they can, but mainly during the holidays. Now that they have a son, Scott, who is almost a month old, those visits might be more frequent.

“I have a lot of family who still lives there,” Winston said.

Including his uncle, Mike Neidhold, the Richland High football coach.

Winston also tries to keep in touch with his former Richland teammates.

“I just worked a camp with Travis Buck in mid-January,” he said. “We spent 2 1/2 days side-by-side again. That was cool.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2018 at 5:15 PM with the headline "This former Richland Bomber went from player to coach at Community Colleges of Spokane."