Seaforth didn’t have to look too far for its new baseball head coach.
Spenser Messmore, an assistant coach for the Hawks last year, will move into the head coaching position ahead of the 2025 season, per a social media announcement by Seaforth Athletics on August 11. Messmore earned the coaching position after a coaching search and interview process.
According to Messmore, former coach Landon Jones will remain at Seaforth as an assistant while he studies at the UNC School of Law. Messmore, a first-time head coach, will be the program’s second baseball coach after Jones led the Hawks to a 39-29 record in three seasons.
“It’s exciting,” Messmore said. “I was with the team and the guys last year, so they’re very familiar with the culture that’s already been established here. It was a really solid season, so I’m just excited to build off of that.”
Prior to being named the head coach at Seaforth, Messmore spent six years as an assistant at Northwood from 2018-23. He moved to Seaforth this past spring.
As a native of Granada Hills, California, Messmore played college baseball at California State University at Bakersfield from 2009-12. He pitched for four years, going from a walk-on to a starter as a freshman and leading the team in appearances in every season.
In the summer league season following his junior year, Messmore helped the Santa Barbara Foresters win the National Baseball Congress World Series with a save in the national title game.
A few years after the conclusion of his college career, Messmore moved to North Carolina in 2017.
At Seaforth, Messmore played a key role during the program’s breakout year in the spring in which the Hawks went 22-6 overall and made their first playoff appearance. He said Jones and the coaching staff led the team with open input, which he felt fostered a “good team environment” and allowed him to already have an established influence on the players.
“Landon was very open last year, and so, I have already implemented a lot of my personal styles into the program,” Messmore said. “It’s more just a somewhat different practice approach, and it’s really just built on where we saw weaknesses last year. The emphasis is just going to be on trying to get the offense to really be more consistent.”
Having already been in Chatham County for a few years and now the father of two boys (two and four years old), Messmore feels like he could be at Seaforth for a while.
“We’re districted for Seaforth, so, unless something happens that makes my life just too busy, I would imagine that I’d be in this world until they’re done with high school,” Messmore said. “So, it’s kind of a 10-15 year decision. Anything can happen, but it feels long-term.”
