Champion baseball coach set to return to Prairie

BRUSH PRAIRIE — It appears a Hall of Fame coach is returning to the school where he had much of his success. Don Freeman, a two-time state champion baseball coach, is expected to become the next baseball coach at Prairie High School. The move is pending school board approval in September, according to Jason Castro, the school’s athletic director. “As soon as we had an opening, I said, ‘What do you think of getting Donny Baseball back to where he belongs at Prairie High School?’ I could not be more excited to have him,” Castro said. It will be a month or so before the current Falcons can meet their new coach. Freeman is in Europe, coaching a team in Germany. In fact, Castro had a phone interview with Freeman when Freeman and his team were in Amsterdam. “Sadly, the Battle Ground School District would not pay for me to go over there to interview him,” Castro said with a laugh.  

Freeman won state titles with Prairie in 1986 and 1989. He coached the baseball team for 22 seasons. He also has coached at Heritage High School and Clark College, among his stops. His summers were filled with coaching USA Baseball youth teams all over the world. And in recent years, he has been spending his summers in Europe.   Recently, he was named to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s Hall of Fame. (He will be inducted in 2018.) Also next year, he will receive national recognition when he is inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. He is the only one of the 11 inductees for the Class of 2018 from the Pacific Northwest.