Coaching staff
Francisco Zapata
head coach
Coach Zapata hails from San Francisco's Mission High School where he was a three time All-City and 1990 AAA player of the year. Coach Zapata continued his playing days at Laney College under legendary Coach Tom Pearse, who was in his final head coaching season in1993. In his sophomore year, he earned 1st Team All-Conference, 1st Team All-Northern California and 1st Team All-American honors as the Eagles third baseman. The Eagles reached the California State Final Four Tournament finishing third in the state.
dustin cheyne
assistant head coach - pitching
Rick Becker, MS, ATC, CSCS, CES
Athletic Trainer
Rick Becker is a NATABOC Certified Athletic Trainer. Rick began his athletic training education at Diablo Valley College in 2004 before transferring to Cal State Fullerton where he graduated magna cum laude receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Athletic Training. As a Bay Area native, Rick returned to Northern California in 2014 to begin his Junior College career at DVC before joining Laney College in fall 2017.
As a graduate student at California University, Rick earned a Master’s Degree in Exercise Science focusing his efforts on rehabilitative sciences and corrective exercise. Rick has a strong focus on manual therapy and a philosophy in treating the whole body, rather than simply addressing the pathology, in the preventative effort to reduce the occurrence of overuse injury related to sport.
Rick’s vision as an athletic trainer is to blend his education and training with clinical expertise, knowledge of current research, and patient expectations to create a pathway providing the best possible health care for the Laney College student-athlete population.