The Kokomo Jackrabbits are a college summer

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team based in

Kokomo, Indiana Kokomo ( ) is a city in Indiana and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard County, the Kokomo-Peru CSA, which include ...

. They are a member of the summer collegiate

Northwoods League The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not paid, so as to maintain their college el ...

, beginning with the 2019 season. Previously, the team played in the

Prospect League The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their colleg ...

. The Jackrabbits play at the 4,000-seat

Kokomo Municipal Stadium Kokomo Municipal Stadium is a baseball stadium in Kokomo, Indiana, Kokomo, Indiana, United States. The Kokomo Jackrabbits of the Collegiate summer baseball, college summer Northwoods League, and the Kokomo High School, Kokomo Wildkats (local high ...

in downtown Kokomo.

Namesake

Kokomo's baseball team went through a naming contest in the summer of 2014 before landing on the winning name of "Jackrabbits." Of around 1,000 entries in the online naming campaign, 15 people suggested the name "Jackrabbit" for Kokomo's Prospect League team. The name is the same as a popular automobile developed by the Apperson Brothers in a building adjacent to where

now stands.

Colors & uniform

The Kokomo Jackrabbits have adopted a look that is reminiscent of the San Diego Padres uniforms during the 1970s and 1980s with brown, mustard and orange colors.

Seasons

The Jackrabbits have canceled their 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Coaches

On October 20, 2014, Greg Van Horn was named the first Field Manager in Jackrabbits history. After a tumultuous first thirty games to the 2015 season (in which he was ejected three times), Van Horn was relieved of his duties by Matt Howard, who remained in place for the 2016 season. Howard lead the Jackrabbits to a 46–45 record across his one and a half seasons. Howard then moved on to accept the same position at Indiana University Kokomo, where he became the baseball team's first field manager in school history. The Jackrabbits then hired former

Austin Peay Austin Peay (June 1, 1876 – October 2, 1927) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of Tennessee from 1923 to 1927. He was the state's first governor since the Civil War to win three consecutive terms and the first to die i ...

coach and all time

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Cham ...

wins leader

Gary McClure Gary McClure is a former American college baseball coach, formerly serving as head coach of the Austin Peay Governors baseball program. He was named to that position prior to the 1988 season. With 847 wins, McClure is the winningest coach in A ...

. McClure posted a 64-55 (.538) record in his two seasons with the club. After leading the team to the

Championship Series in the 2018 season, it was announced that McClure would be taking over as the first manager of the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

expansion team, the

Milwaukee Milkmen The Milwaukee Milkmen are an independent baseball team based in Franklin, Wisconsin. They are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. They began play in 2019 and play hom ...

(also owned by the Jackrabbits' parent company, ROC Ventures). In 2022 Johnston Hobbs was hired by Nathan Martin. Martin is the general manager and won general manager of the year for Northwoods League teams in Indiana. Good job Nate.

References

Kokomo, Indiana Amateur baseball teams in Indiana Prospect League teams 2014 establishments in Indiana Baseball teams established in 2014 Sports in Kokomo, Indiana {{Indiana-sport-stub