Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

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Bryant Bowen, a 2019 All-Conference USA selection, joined the Eastern Kentucky University program as a volunteer assistant coach in January 2021.  In the summer of 2023, Bowen was promoted to a full time assistant coaching position.  In the summer of 2024, he moved to EKU’s director of player development.
 
In his role as director of player development, Bowen will continue working with the catchers and working closely with the pitching coach.  He will now also oversee hitting development.
 
In 2024, Bowen assisted the Colonels in reaching their third straight Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.  EKU is one of only four programs to qualify for each of the past three league tournaments.  Freshman catcher Silas Shaffer started 42 games, including 33 times behind the plate.  In his final 18 games of the season, Shaffer hit .309 with two home runs and 12 RBIs. 
 
In 2022, Bowen helped the Colonels to a championship season.  EKU went 38-20 overall and claimed a share of the ASUN Conference West Division Championship with a 20-10 league mark.  The 38 wins were the most in a season since the 1990 squad won 42.  It was Eastern Kentucky’s first conference title since 2012.  The Colonels were picked to finish eighth in the ASUN Preseason Poll, but finished tied for the best overall conference record in the league.
 
Left-hander Will Brian was chosen as an All-American by three organizations in 2022.  He was also a finalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, ranked by D1Baseball.com as the No. 6 reliever in the nation and drafted in the 10th round by the New York Yankees.  Brian joined catcher Will King on the ASUN All-Conference Team.  King also earned a spot on the ASUN All-Tournament team after leading the Colonels to the semifinals. 
 
EKU followed the championship campaign with 29 more wins in 2023, making it the winningest two-year period for the program since 1989 and 1990.
 
King earned all-conference recognition again in 2023, was on the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award watch list for the second straight season and was chosen to the ABCA Rawlings Midwest All-Region Team.  He was picked by the Atlanta Braves in the 2023 MLB Draft.  Chase Alderman was chosen to the ASUN All-Freshman Team. 
 
EKU won 17 more games in 2022 than the season before.  Brian broke EKU’s single season individual saves record.  As a team, the Colonels set a new record for total saves (19).
 
In 2021, Bowen helped the Colonels to victories over No. 15 Georgia Tech and No. 7 Louisville.  Over the final 11 games of the season, the pitching staff had a 3.34 ERA.  Starting pitcher Darren Williams and Brian were all-conference picks.  The staff led the league in strikeouts.

Bowen earned second team all-conference honors as senior catcher at the University of Southern Mississippi following the 2019 season when he hit .341 with 43 runs, 11 home runs and 51 RBIs.  He slugged .563 and had a .403 on-base percentage.
 
The Shreveport, Louisiana native spent the 2020 season as a graduate transfer at the University of South Carolina.  He played in 15 games and started nine times during the abbreviated campaign, finishing with six runs scored, two home runs and seven RBIs.  Bowen hit a home run in his first at-bat of his Gamecock career.
 
Bowen was chosen to the Conference USA All-Tournament Team in 2017 and 2019.  He helped the Golden Eagles capture the 2019 conference tournament championship.  Southern Miss finished 44-18 and won the regular season and tournament titles in 2018.  The Golden Eagles went 50-16 in 2017, won the regular season championship and advanced to the title game of the Conference USA Tournament.  Bowen helped the Golden Eagles to three NCAA Regionals (2017, 2018 and 2019). 
 
Bowen earned a spot on the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor roll in 2016, 2017 and 2018.  He completed a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration at Southern Miss in May of 2019.  He was pursuing a master’s of health information technology at South Carolina.