Scott Belger to be honored during final season at Southeast Polk

PLEASANT HILL — Creston native Scott Belger will be honored between games of the Southeast Polk home doubleheader Monday against Waukee.

First game is at 5 p.m.

Southeast has organized the event honoring its longtime baseball coach during his final season. He was recently hired as the school’s assistant principal.

Belger was named Iowa Baseball Coach of the Year as part of the the 2016 All-Iowa Sports Awards announced by the Des Moines Register.

Belger, 1990 graduate of Creston High School, earned several state awards after guiding the Rams to their second straight Class 4A state championship in 2015. Belger was honored as Class 4A South Central District Coach of the Year and Class 4A State Coach of the Year by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association for the second consecutive year in 2015. He also joined the 500 win club that season.

Belger’s longtime chief assistant coach is Dave Hartman, also of Creston. Scott is the son of Pat and Vic Belger, now of Waukee. Vic was a longtime Creston High School baseball coach, including the 1990 Class 3A state runner-up team that included Scott and younger brother Kurt Belger. Both Belger brothers and Scott Driskell, current Creston Community Elementary School principal, received all-state honors from that team.

There will be free admission for all former Rams baseball players and Rams Baseball Club players Monday night.

The Southeast Polk Community School District recently named Belger as the new high school assistant principal, effective July 1.

Belger has worked for the Southeast Polk District for 10 years, serving as a physical education teacher, coach, interim assistant activities director, and interim assistant high school principal. He received a master’s degree in education from Northwest Missouri State University in 1999 and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Drake University in 2016.

Belger lives in Des Moines with his wife Margi, and children Luke and Alexis Boord. Belger has been coaching high school baseball for 22 years and has served as Southeast Polk’s head baseball coach for the past 10 years.

Belger was previously head baseball coach at Des Moines Hoover and Adel-DeSoto-Minburn. At Hoover he coached current Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, who pitched a regular-season game against Creston as a sophomore.