Longtime Kiona-Benton baseball coach to be inducted to state coaches hall of fame

Baseball has always been a part of Mike Hagen’s life.

“I came from a baseball town,” said the 87-year-old Hagen. “I was raised in Lewiston, Idaho, and I only lived a block away from Harris Field. I was a kid who grew up with baseball in Lewiston, with (outstanding coaches such as) Dwight Church and Gabby Williams.”

So maybe it should come as no surprise that Hagen will be honored this weekend for his own life accomplishments in baseball.

The confounding part is that it has taken so long.

On Saturday, Hagen will be inducted into the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame at Parker Field at Yakima Valley College in Yakima.

Hagen was the head coach of the Kiona-Benton High School baseball program for 32 seasons, from 1966 to 1999.

The long-time history teacher — “That was my favorite subject,” he said — led the Bears baseball program to three state championships — those coming in 1973, 1975 and 1996.

Overall, his teams had a combined 521 wins against 237 losses.

Under Hagen, Ki-Be won 12 league titles, 6 district championships, and 7 regional crowns.

In addition to those three state titles, Hagen’s Ki-Be squads placed second in state two times, and another took a third-base finish.

There was a four-year stretch where Hagen’s Bears finished second, second, first and third from 1994 through 1997.

Ki-Be’s baseball field is named after Hagen.

Hagen says he was always blessed with good student-athletes, who took care of their work in the classroom.

And those three state title teams were, he said, probably his best squads.

Winning a state baseball championship in the state of Washington is no easy task.

In the WIAA state playoffs, successful teams need more than one good pitcher because sometimes two rounds have to be played in one day.

“You’ve gotta have a little depth,” Hagen said. “So you have to be good with pitching. Sometimes it’s better to have three good pitchers.”

Hagen knew how to develop talent, which isn’t always easy in a small community like Benton City.

What happened?

Those 521 victories, or those three state championships, would be enough to get Hagen inducted.

But Hagen is a humble man. He never really tooted his own horn.

“I never got a hit. I never scored a run. I just gave the signals,” he told the Herald.

But someone had to put these teams together, and it was him.

“It was a pleasure coaching these kids all of those years,” he said. “We had practice at Ki-Be, I tried to recruit kids (in the school) who knew they wanted to play baseball. They had to learn to bunt, take a lead off the base, and learn how to steal a base.”

He was a teacher in both the classroom and on the field.

It was Dareld Lookabill, a former long-time coach and teacher at Kiona-Benton and Connell — who also grew up in Clarkston and has known Hagen for decades — discovered that Hagen wasn’t in the WSBCA Hall of Fame.

Lookabill reached out to officials from the WSBCA to right this wrong. They agreed.

“He deserves it,” said Brian Jackson of the WSBCA. “It’s a great thing. And he should have been (in the hall) a while back.”

Finally getting his due recognition

Nothing comes easy.

Hagen’s wife of 59 years, Gayle, said her husband had a fall earlier this week and fractured five ribs.

He spent a night in the hospital, “but he’s only had one shot for the pain,” said Gayle.

Broken ribs aside, nothing will keep Hagen, his family and friends away from Yakima Valley College’s Parker Field when he is inducted between all-state games — Gayle said the family has been told it will be between the two Saturday games “around 2:30, 2:45 p.m,” at Parker Field.

All-star games

Each of the four all-state teams, all comprised of seniors, has someone from the Mid-Columbia region on their rosters.

Team Adams will feature two Kamiakin standouts in Tommy Lamb and Trent Woodhouse. Both are pitchers and outfielders.

Team Baker will have Richland infielder Carter Upmeyer, while Team St. Helens will have Tri-Cities Prep’s Will Balcom and Owen Janke on its roster.

Finally, Team Rainier has three area players: Royal’s Benson Jenks, and Othello’s Jordan Montemayor and Sonny Salazar.

Games are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday; and 10:15 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. on Sunday.

More baseball

Not sure there has ever been a better pitching performance at the Northwest Athletic Conference’s baseball championships than what Chiawana graduate Connor Mendez did a few weeks back.

Mendez, pitching for Linn-Benton Community College, tossed 17.2 scoreless innings in two games in the tournament as the Roadrunners won the tournament.

Mendez — a 6-foot, 200-pound right-hander — opened the tournament by throwing 9 scoreless innings in a 1-0 win over Bellevue College.

He gave up just 1 hit and 1 walk, striking out six batters in a 99-pitch performance.

He did not get the win, as the game was 0-0 after nine innings. But Linn-Benton scored in the 10th for the win.

A few days later, Mendez tossed 8.2 scoreless innings as the Roadrunners took down Spokane 2-0 to advance to the championship game.

In that performance, Mendez scattered 3 hits, walked 2 batters, and fanned 5 hitters over 100 pitches.

The sophomore was named the tournament MVP.

Overall this season, Mendez was named South Region Pitcher of the Year.

Mendez started his college career with two seasons at Saint Martin’s University, but he really only got one season in. He transferred to Linn-Benton for his sophomore season.

Now, he’s looking for a place to play at a four-year school for his final two seasons of eligibility.

This story was originally published June 20, 2025 at 10:41 AM.