Central Baptist College

29 Dr. Aaron Brister

Email:

abrister@cbc.edu
Title:

Head Coach
City:

Conway
State:

AR
ZIP Code:

72034
Country:

United States
Phone:

501-205-8797
Previous College:

Harding University

Bio

Dr. Brister begins his 13th season as the head coach of the CBC baseball team in 2026. In his 12 seasons at the helm, he has posted a record of 358-272 with six seasons of at least 30 wins. He has an overall record of 509-558 in 20 seasons.

In 2025 CBC went 29-24 overall and once again made it to the AMC Tournament semifinals. Josh Albat and George Astacio both earned first-team honors from the AMC while Brayden Mayencourt and Garrett Fitts both earned second-team nods with Fitts also earning a Gold Glove. Additionally, Hunter Belton and Julian Rodriguez earned selections to the AMC's All-tournament team. 22 players earned selections to the AMC's All-Academic Team while six earned NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athlete honors as well.

In 2024, the Mustangs went 38-15 and made the championship game of the AMC Tournament. Cade McBride was named AMC Newcomer Player of the Year and Dual Position Player of the Year while Dylan Parton was named Freshman Pitcher of the Year. Addtionally, six players earned All-Conference selections with Gram Middleton, Austin Teal and Ruben Hernandez earning first-team nods and Danilo Taborda, Austin LeJeune and Ryan Dauphinee earning second-team selections. 32 players earned AMC Academic All-Conference selections with five players earning NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athlete selections and Teal and Hernandez earning All-America honors from College Sports Communicators. McBride, Middleton and Chett McDaniel also earned selection to the All-Tournament Team. He was also named Coach of the Year by Natural State Baseball, which named Teal third baseman of the year, McBride leftfielder of the year and gave honorable mentions to Middleton and Jacori Hicks.

The 2023 Mustangs went 25-28 overall and made it to the semifinals of the AMC tournament. Luke McBride was named to the AMC honorable mention team and earned a Gold Glove from the AMC along with teammates Danilo Taborda and Steven Stewart. Austin LeJeune and Nick Aide earned AMC All-Tournament Team honors as well for their performances during the tournament. Aide and Gabe Walker also earned Natural State Baseball selection as well and he coached 19 players on the AMC Academic All-Conference team as well as five players earning College Sports Communicators All-District honors and 10 players earning NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athlete honors.

In 2022, CBC went 27-28 overall and earned the #5 seed in the AMC tournament, going 2-2 in the tournament and reaching the semifinals for the third time. Seven players were named to the AMC All-Conference teams, including Jay French, who earned Player of the Year and first-team honors while setting single-season records for hits and stolen bases (leading the nation in stolen bases as well) and breaking seven program career records; Logan Easterling was the Freshman of the Year and earned second-team honors as well while Austin Teal and Ruben Hernandez were also selected to the first team with Garon Johnson and Wille Baez earning second-team honors and Slayton Holland earning the gold glove at pitcher. French was also named a first-team NAIA All-American and earned selection, along with Easterling and Johnson, to the Natural State Baseball Team, with French earning both Player of the Year and the Natural Award, Easterling earning Freshman of the Year and Johnson earning honorable mention. Brister also coached 18 players on the Academic All-Conference team.

2021 saw the Mustangs go 24-20 during the regular season to earn the five seed in the American Midwest Conference tournament. 15 players were selected to the AMC All-Academic Team and six players earned All-AMC selections, headlined by Andrew Killough and Ruben Hernandez who were named the Freshman pitcher and player of the year in the AMC. Steven Stewart and Kelvin Volquez, who were also all-conference honorees, subsequently earned AMC Gold Glove Awards for their outstanding play in the field.

The 2020 Mustangs tied their best 26-game record in program history, going 21-5 before the season was canceled on March 12 due to the CoVID-19 pandemic. 17 players were selected to the AMC's All-Academic team and Griffith Olinde earned All-America honors from the NAIA Ball podcast after playing in 25 games and hitting .471 with 13 home runs and 42 RBIs, all of which were the best by a Mustang ever through 25 games.

The 2019 Mustangs finished 27-27 and were the number five seed in the American Midwest Conference tournament. Brister had three players, Austin Kuchinski, Trae Bobo and Jay French selected to All-AMC teams and additionally, had 16 players selected to the AMC All-Academic Team. Kuchinski broke seven school records during the season and became the first four-time first-team all-conference selection in program history, while Bobo became the second player in program history to hit 20 or more home runs in a single season.

2018 saw CBC finish with a record of 30-30 and Brister earned the 300th win of his coaching career on March 17 against Park University. The Mustangs qualified for their third straight AMC tournament and made it all the way to the NCCAA Central Region championship game. Ben Madison, who led the NAIA in strikeouts with 172, earned AMC Co-Conference pitcher of the year honors, as well as a first-team selection and was also selected as an NAIA honorable mention All-America and a first-team All-America by the NCCAA. Additionally, Madison was selected in the ninth round of the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft by the San Francisco Giants, marking the first player in Brister's tenure to get drafted by a Major League team. Also, Austin Kuchinski was selected to the first team by the AMC while Jose Delmar was a second-team selection and five players were selected to the AMC All-Academic team.

2017 was the fourth consecutive season of 30 or more wins for CBC, finishing 30-27. Madison was selected as the Newcomer Pitcher of the Year after leading the nation in strikeouts with 129. Madison, Kuchinski and Jalin Lawson were all selected to the AMC's first team and Lawson was selected as an NAIA second-team All-America after hitting .392 with 11 home runs and 50 RBIs while leading CBC in every offensive category. Madison was also an NCCAA first-team All-American and Lawson was a second-team NCCAA All-American. Cole Johnson and Monterio May were second-team AMC selections and nine Mustangs were AMC All-Academic team selections.

2016 was a record-setting year for Dr. Brister's charges as they finished with a school record 45 wins and won the American Midwest Conference tournament in their first year of membership to the conference. The would advance to the NAIA Baseball regional at Auburn-Montgomery and win their first game before bowing out of the tournament. Lawson was selected as the AMC and NCCAA player of the year after hitting .404 with 81 runs scored, 21 doubles, 23 home runs and 65 RBIs, all of which either set or tied school records at the time. Lawson was also the newcomer player of the year and a first-team NAIA All-America, while Kuchinski earned freshman player of the year honors (as well as first-team NCCAA honors) and Dylan Crossley was named freshman pitcher of the year. Additionally, Kuchinski and Lawson were first-team All-AMC selections along with teammates Brian Moreno (who was also an NCCAA first-team selection), who became the first Mustang pitcher ever to strikeout 100 batters in a season (106) and set a school record for wins (11) and Nash Nichols. Crossley and Seth McLemore were AMC second-team selections with McLemore earning a third-team selection by the NCCAA, and eight players earned All-Academic team recognition.

2015 marked the final year of membership in the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference for CBC and the Mustangs tied their school wins record with 31. They also hosted the NCCAA Central Regional Tournament, finishing as the runner-up and earning a spot in the NCCAA World Series in Mason, Ohio. Josh Buczek was named to the MCAC's first team after leading the Mustangs in hits, runs scored and doubles during the season and was also an NCCAA second-team All-American. Sam Buczek was named the MCAC Male student-athlete of the year and was a second-team all-MCAC selection and gold glove winner in the conference and Santez Richardson was also named to the MCAC second team.

2014 was Brister's first season as the head coach at CBC and he took a team that had won 24 games the previous year and set a then-school record for wins with 31. Brady Brashier, who led the team in hitting, was named to the MCAC first-team and was also selected as an NCCAA second-team All-America. Brandon Papera joined Brashier on the all-conference team, earning second team honors during the season.

From 2005-2013, Brister coached at former NAIA school Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Ga. He posted a record of 288-381 in eight seasons but transformed the team from an afterthought to a competitor in the TranSouth Athletic Conference his final four seasons.

Brister earned his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from Harding University in 1998 and then earned his master's in Kinesiology from Harding in 2000. He earned a doctorate in 2005 from the University of Arkansas. He is married to Billie Jean and the couple have three children, Eden, a CBC alumni, Lily, a junior on the CBC volleyball team and Isaiah, 17.

OVERALL RECORD FOR AARON BRISTER

Year	Overall	AMC	AMC Tournament	NAIA Tournament
2025	29-24	23-13 (4th)	2-2 (#4 seed)	NA
2024	38-15%	14-7 (3rd)	4-2 (#3 seed)!	NA
2023	25-28	8-13 (6th)	4-2 (#6 Seed)!	NA
2022	27-28	10-11 (5th)	2-2 (#5 Seed)	NA
2021	24-20	10-14 (5th)	0-1 (#5 seed)	NA
2020	21-5*	NA*	NA*	NA
2019	29-27	17-13 (4th)	2-2 (#4 Seed)	NA
2018	30-30	13-17 (8th)	0-2 (#8 Seed) !	NA
2017	30-27	15-13 (6th)	1-2 (#6 Seed)	NA
2016	45-16^	18-9 (3rd)^	4-0 (#3 Seed)^	1-2&
2015	31-26	13-11 (4th)	1-2 (#4 Seed - MCAC)	NA
2014	31-26	11-13 (4th)	0-2 (#4 Seed - MCAC)	NA
Total	358-272	128-110 (AMC only)	19-15 (AMC only)	1-2
^- AMC Tournament Champions \| ! - AMC Tournament Runners Up \| * Season ended early due to COVID-19
& Montgomery, Ala. Regional \| % Natural State Baseball Coach of the Year \| # NAiA National Championship Tournament