Baseball

Nate Breland enters his 11th season as Head Baseball Coach in 2024, holding an overall record of 352-165.

During the 2023 campaign, the Eagles won their second Heart Regular Season Championship in the last three years, with an overall record of 36-19 and a 23-7 mark in conference play. Central punched their ticket to the NAIA Opening Round for the seventh consecutive year in 2023. Breland was named the Heart Coach of the Year for the third time in his career. 

Coach Breland led the Eagles to their best season in program history in 2021, as Central swept the Heart Regular Season and Heart Tournament Championships and won the Opening Round of the O'Fallon Bracket. The win sent CMU to their first-ever Avista NAIA World Series trip in school history.

CMU finished the National Championship with a 3-2 overall record and a runner-up finish, falling to Georgia Gwinnett by a score of 8-4 in the championship series. CMU finished the year at No. 2 in the NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 poll, the highest national ranking in program history.

For his efforts in 2021, Breland was named the Heart Conference and NAIA Regional Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches' Association.

In 2020, he led the Eagles to a program-high ranking after being tabbed as the No. 10 team in the NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll and a 16-5 overall before the season was cut short due to the COVID19 pandemic.

Under his guidance, the Eagles have competed in seven-straight NAIA Opening Rounds and one Avista NAIA World Series. To date, 78 Eagles have earned All-Conference honors, 14 players have been named NAIA All-Americans, and eight players have earned Player of the Year recognition by the Heart. Breland has also numerous played that moved on to play professional baseball, highlighted by Peyton Long, who became the first Eagle drafted since 2011 when the Milwaukee Brewers took him in the 30th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft.

Off the diamond, CMU Baseball earned the highest increase in GPA among male teams at Central Methodist. In 2019 the Eagles were recognized as an NAIA Scholar Team. Breland has coached 41 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes to date. 

Breland is a three-time Heart Coach of the Year (2018, 2021 & 2023) and was named the ABCA Region Coach of the Year in 2021 by the American Baseball Coaches Association. 

Breland's teams hold every team record noted in program history, including wins in a season with 49 in 2021. Year in and year out, his teams consistently rank among the Top 25 nationally in team statistics.

A former Central Methodist baseball player himself (2002-06), Breland was inducted into Hairston Hall of Fame on Jan. 28, 2023. During his time with the Eagles, he earned All-Conference honors all four years, including three times at catcher and once as an outfielder. Breland was also named First Team All-Region as a senior.

Breland obtained his Bachelors degree in Physical Education in 2006 and a Masters degree in Education in 2008. Prior to his time with the baseball program, Breland served six years as the Head Strength and Conditioning coach at Central.

He has served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with the program since 2007. In addition, Breland has assisted in the NAIA national ratings and conducted winter baseball camps. He is also a member of the America Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and MSHAA Umpire Association.