Massanutten Military Academy establishing post-grad baseball program

Massanutten Military Academy is adding a post-graduate baseball program to its academic and sports offerings for the 2023-2024 school year.

The program will be headed up by Mike Bocock, who this past summer surpassed 700 wins in the Valley League.

“Coach Bocock is one of the best in the area, and MMA is lucky to have a great coach with a proven track record taking the lead,” MMA Head of School Kim Elshafie-Layman said.

Bocock, who currently manages the Valley League’s Woodstock River Bandits, sees both the challenge of starting a new program from the ground floor and the opportunity for players who may need an extra year of development.

“I’m excited to get this going,” Bocock said. “We expect to have 30 or so ballplayers with a few scholarships available, plus we feel that we will be a lot more affordable than some similar post-graduate opportunities.”

The program will give players access to additional coaching beyond the high school level before entering college and give them the opportunity to gain up to 12 hours of college credit while at MMA without using up a year of college eligibility.

Former Shenandoah University pitching coach Rick Croushore will join the staff as assistant head coach and will handle the pitchers as well as serve as recruiting coordinator.

“I couldn’t be more excited in coming back to Virginia and continue teaching and developing talent,” Croushore said.

Bocock and Croushore embarked on their first official recruiting trip to talent-rich Florida this past week.

“We hope to be able to attract both local and national talent to MMA,” Bocock said. “The community is definitely behind this.”