The 2016 season marks the fifth season in which long-time local baseball fixture Wiley Lee will serve as an assistant on the Spartans’ coaching staff. Lee assists the Spartans with hitting and infield instruction.Â
Last season, Lee helped the Spartans to their first-ever MEAC Northern Division regular-season title and a 27-16 overall record. The 27 wins are the most for the program in its Division I history. NSU led the MEAC in both batting (.286 average) and scoring (6.4 runs per game) last year. Three Spartans – outfielder Denathan Dukes, infielder Roger Hall and first baseman Ryan Kilmon – earned All-MEAC honors.
In 2014, the Spartans finished second in the MEAC in fielding percentage and fourth in batting. NSU also finished third in the conference in stolen bases as two Spartans, Lee’s son Justin and center fielder Andre’ Moore, ranked first and fourth, respectively, among MEAC players in that category. In addition, second baseman Cody Ellis earned All-MEAC second-team accolades.
In 2013, NSU ranked second in the MEAC in team batting average, at .279. That average marked an 11-point increase from 2012, when Lee joined the coaching staff as an interim assistant for the final month of the year. Three members of the Spartans’ regular lineup finished the 2013 season with marks of at least .300, while Cameron Day and Zach Markel earned All-MEAC second-team honors.
Lee is one of the most successful coaches in recent Virginia high school baseball history. He coached Group AAA power Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Va., for 14 years. During his tenure, the Wildcats won 11 Southeastern District championships, four Eastern Region titles and state championships in 2003 and 2011.
Four of Lee’s former Great Bridge players played professionally, including three-time Major League all-star Justin Upton, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2005 amateur draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Fifty of Lee’s players went on to play college baseball, including recent NSU standouts Ryan VanAssche, Chris Joyce, Jason Barker and Drew Suttmiller. Additionally, Lee’s son Justin, a first-team all-state pick after helping Great Bridge to the 2011 state championship, is a senior infielder on the Spartans’ current roster.Â
Lee was a three-time All-Sun Belt pick at Old Dominion University, where he finished his career as the program’s leader in stolen bases. A 1994 ODU Hall of Fame inductee, Lee was a freshman All-American in 1985 and played for the U.S. national team in 1986. Following his ODU career, Lee was a fifth round pick of the California Angels in the 1987 amateur draft. He played parts of four seasons in the Angels’ farm system and was twice named a minor league all-star, first in the California League and then in the Texas League.
Lee earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing education from ODU in 1989. He has taught since 1992 in the Chesapeake Public Schools’ Center of Science and Technology. He and his wife, Jillayne, reside in Chesapeake and have two children, Justin (23) and Ashley (20).
