Dallas baseball coach Ken Kashatus congratulates Mike Collins during the Mountaineers’ District 2 Class 4A championship win in 2017. Kashatus, who stepped down on Wednesday, led the 2017 Mounts to just the second state baseball title won by a WVC team.
Times Leader file photo
Ken Kashatus announced Wednesday he was resigning as Dallas baseball coach after 20 years running the program.
Kashatus cited personal reasons for his departure.
“After much thought over parts of the last few weeks, I feel I need to resign as the head baseball coach at the Dallas School District,” Kashatus said in an email. “I’ve been the coach longer than I’ve been a contracted educator here, and I’ve always been really proud to represent the district in this capacity.”
Kashatus complied a 222-164 record at Dallas. His 2017 team won the District 2 Class 4A and PIAA Class 4A championships, becoming just the second Wyoming Valley Conference squad to win a state baseball title.
Dallas also won the District 2 Class 4A championship in 2019 and four Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 titles. The Mountaineers finished with a losing record only five times during his tenure.
Dallas finished 15-5 this past season, earning the top seed in the District 2 Class 4A playoffs. The Mountaineers’ season ended with a 9-6 loss to Wyoming Area in the district championship game.
“I think the most unique thing that you can say about the program over the run is that we achieved the pinnacle of winning a Pennsylvania State Championship, and no prospective player has ever been cut (in essence, telling him he was not allowed to try and play the sport of baseball in the district any longer),” Kashatus added.
Kashatus said he resigned now to allow the school district adequate time to find a replacement. He said he usually started voluntary team activities in late December. He is the son of John Kashatus, who was the head baseball coach at Nanticoke Area for 21 years from the 1970s through the 1990s.
Two other schools recently made coaching changes. Ryan Knowles was hired to replace Chris Ritsick at Holy Redeemer in August. Berwick hired Eric May early this week. He replaced Brian Pinterich, who led the Bulldogs to the WVC’s other state title in 2008.
