Koh Added to Baseball Staff at Pierce

Joe Koh has resigned as baseball coach at L. A. Baptist after one season and will join the Pierce College staff as an assistant.

His replacement at L. A. Baptist is Mark Bates, the school’s football coach and last season’s junior varsity baseball coach.

Koh, an L. A. Baptist graduate, led the Knights to a 2-15 record and a last-place, 1-9 finish in the Alpha League. He will be reunited with Pierce co-Coach Bob Lofrano. Koh assisted Lofrano when the two coached at Chatsworth High.

“We knew when Joe took the job that he wanted to move to the college level,” L. A. Baptist Athletic Director Maury Neville said Wednesday. “We thought we’d have him longer and we wish we could still have him, but this is a step up for him.”

Bates, 24, is in his third year at L. A. Baptist and his second as the football coach.

He also served for two years as the junior varsity baseball coach and teaches math at the private school in Sepulveda, which has an enrollment of 460.