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Hours of Operation
Now Open Saturday and Sunday!
Monday-Friday 4pm-9pm
Saturday noon-7pm
Sunday 1pm-7pm
Office Phone: 713-503-1229
Academy Phone: 281-838-8850

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Note: Below are all the instructors available. If you would like to schedule a lesson and you don't see them available in the our Esoft Scheduling system, please call to schedule. Scheduling a lesson with an instructor online must be done 24 hours in advance.

Staff and Bios

Instructor Availability

To avoid double booking, please pay for your lesson within 24 hours of scheduling.

Instructors

Chris Sampson Pitching	Garrett Mock Pitching and Hitting	JR Towles Hitting and Catching	Daniel Cox Hitting, Fielding, Base Running, Speed and Strength Conditioning
Derek David Hitting	Crissy Autry Softball	Diego Seastrunk Hitting, Pitching, Catching and Team Lessons	Robin Gross Softball Hitting
Matt Shelton Pitching	Steve Kissel Softball Hitting	Trey George Hitting

Instructors now available

Chris Sampson

Instructional Lessons: Pitching

Chris Sampson graduated from Channelview High School in 1996. A 3 year letterman earning 1st team all district as a pitcher as well as a shortstop and voted team MVP his Senior year. Chris continued his playing career by earning a scholarship to Lon Morris Jr College where he received 1st team All Conference honors at shortstop for 2 years. Was drafted by the KC Royals in the 41st round but did not sign and chose to accept his scholarship to Texas Tech University. Sampson spent 1 short year at TTU being selected in the 8th round by the Houston Astros in the 8th round as a short stop. In 2003 Chris converted to a pitcher in the Astros minor league system. After just 3 years of being a pitcher Sampson made his Major league debut in June 2nd 2006.

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Derek David

Instructional Lessons: Hitting

Derek David began at BF Terry High school in Rosenberg, Texas.After a three year successful varsity career, he attended Western Texas Junior College, where he was an all-conference performer.

Derek then found his home at McMurry University. He played there for three years and achieved the following:

• 2008 NCAA D3 National Player of the Year
• 5-time NCAA All-American
• Three time American Southwest Conference first team
• Single season ASC record holder for HR, RBI, and runs scored
• HR in NCAA record 7 consecutive games

He went on to play professionally for the River City Rascals and the Brockton Rox.

After his professional career, Derek returned to McMurry and graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Biochemistry.  He is currently enrolled in the Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to pursue a career in pharmacy.

His love for the game is still strong, and he gives hitting lessons at Extreme Sports in Rosenberg, coaches for the Fort Bend Texans, and is the head Mickey Mantle coach for George Ranch high school.

For more info about Derek visit his website at derekdavid.weebly.com.

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Garrett Mock

Instructional Lessons: Pitching

North Shore High School 2001 graduate, received a scholarship to Grayson County CC, Drafted in the 44th round by the Cleveland Indians (did not sign). Went 11-2 at Grayson With 13 complete games, Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 14th round(did not sign), chose to attend The University of Houston. Played 2 years at UH, Rayner Noble was my coach/mentor and those 2 years really helped me develop as a pitcher, Drafted in the 3rd round by the Arizona Diamondbacks (finally signed!!!). In 2003 played summer ball in Cape Cod, was honored as the MVP of the '03 CCBL All-Star Game. In 2005 played in the California League (High-A/ Arizona D-Backs) and led the League in IP and Ks, selected for the Mid and Post season All-Star teams. Traded in '06 to the Washington Nationals, missed most of '07 recovering from knee surgery. In 2008 Selected to play in AAA International League/ Pacific Coast League All-Star Game, Made ML Debut with the Nationals on 6-08-08. 2009 I started the year in AAA but was recalled in late April, Was sent down in late May and converted back into a starter, called back up in July and finished the Year with the Nationals as a starter.

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JR Towles

Instructional Lessons: Hitting and Catching

JR played his sophomore, junior and senior year of high school and made all district team. JR was drafted by Oakland A's in the 32nd round out of high school. He attended Collin Co community college for 1 year where he won the silver slugger award, JR made 1st team all conference and all American team. He was also drafted by Oakland for the 2nd time in the 23rd round. He elected not to sign both times. Attend North Central Texas College for 1 year where I was all conference and graduated with an associate's degree is science. Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 20th round and signed with them in 2004. In 2007 JR jumped from A ball (Salem) to AA (Corpus Christi) to AAA (round rock) and got a September call up all in 1 season. He made his major league debut on Sept 5, 2007.In 2007 he broke the franchise record for the most RBI's in a single game and recorded 8 RBI's against St. Louis on Sept 20th. In 2008 JR was Houston's #1 prospect.

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Daniel Cox

Instructional Lessons: Hitting, Fielding, Base Running, Speed and Strength Conditioning

Daniel was a Channelview High School 4-year letterman, 1st Team All-District Shortstop 2000, 2001, 2002. Greater Houston All-Star Team 2002. He attended San Jacinto Jr. College 2 years, where he was 1st Team All-Conference 3rd Base, nominated All-American, and runner up NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year 2005. Daniel attended Sam Houston State University for 1 year, played 3rd base for the Weatherford Wranglers, and was Texas Collegiate League All-Star 3rd Base in 2006. Daniel played for the Bay Area Toros-Continental Baseball League (Independent Pro Ball) and was All-Star 3rd Base 2007 and 2009. He coached the 12 & under USSSA National Champions - Spring and Summer 2009. Kinesiology major with a minor in Health at SHSU.

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Crissy Autry

Instructional Lessons: Softball

Crissy Autry played and pitched 4 years of Division 1 college softball, 2 years at Galveston College and another 2 years at Stephen F. Austin State University receiving many accolades including, but not limited to, All-American selection. Immediately following college graduation, she left the United States to play professionally overseas in Europe where she lived for 3 consecutive years/seasons. She led her Dutch team to national championships, played all three years in the European Cup and was named MVP and Best Pitcher in the league. During her stent in Europe, she played in and/or travelled to at least 11 countries and attended the 2008 Beijing Olympics in support of the U.S.A. and Dutch Olympic teams and the sport's final appearance in the Olympic Games. She's been privately coaching pitchers for about 10 years and is also the current pitching and assistant coach for the 16/18U Texas High Voltage college showcase team.

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Diego Joaquin Seastrunk

Instructional Lessons: Hitting, Pitching, Catching and Team Lessons

Diego grew up in Channelview, TX and attended Channelview High School. He was a pitcher and a utility player. Moderately recruited out of high school, he decided to attend Rice University under legendary collegiate head coach Wayne Graham.

He played four years at Rice U. He played 3rd base for two seasons and had the rare opportunity to make back to back trips to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The latter two years Diego converted to catching and earned himself a spot in the 2010 first-year player draft.

Diego was drafted in the 14th Round in the 2010 first-year player draft by the Cleveland Indians. He played two seasons, the first as a Mahoning Valley Scrapper in Niles, OH.

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Robin Gross

Instructional Lessons: Softball Hitting, Fielding, Base Running, Speed and Strength Conditioning

Head Softball coach at Channelview High school from 1993 - 2000 (Went to playoffs in 1996-2000), head softball coach at Family Christian Academy from 2003 - 2006, coached various little league teams through the years. Robin played in Highlands,Crosby and Baytown woman's leagues from 1992-2002 during which time she led the league in home runs. Played in the state and national tournaments for softball in 1986-1987. Won the Rita Hendrickson All-Around Player award for Highlands Girls Softball League in 1984.

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Matt Shelton

Instructional Lessons: Pitching

Matt Shelton was a first-team All-Southland selection this season after compiling a 7-3 record and a 2.87 ERA. He had one complete game this year, coming in the postseason, a loss to Nicholls in the Southland tournament. Shelton was the most valuable player of the 2009 Southland tournament, notching a pair of victories in relief against UTSA and Texas State in the championship game. That season the sophomore had a breakout year, notching a 7-0 record and a 1.99 ERA, all out of the bullpen.

4th round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Started in Short season rookie ball in Ogden Utah where he complied 4 wins and 2 losses in the bullpen with a 2.05 ERA in 26 innings with 30 strikeouts.

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Steve Kissel

Instructional Lessons: Softball Hitting

Coach Steve Kissel is proud to be part of the Lone Star Academy. He will bring a wealth of experience with his 25 years of college softball experience. Coach Kissel has worked at every level from Junior college to NCAA Division I. He has won close to 600 games along with seven conference championships, fourteen regional tournament appearances and a national tournament appearance where his team placed 8th out of 16. Along the producing countless all conference, all region including 2 players of the year, not to mention the players/pitchers of the week and all American players. His teams have lead the country in hitting, pitching and fielding and been in the top 10 in all statistical categories. While at the Junior College level his players set new school records for home runs, batting average, stolen basses, on base percentage. His pitchers are also listed on the all-time national stats for strikeouts in a season and innings pitched. Through his experiences, knowledge and connections he was able to place 100% of the athletes that wanted to go on to a four year school after finishing at the Junior College in schools like The University of Texas, Texas Women's, Midwestern State, Eastern New Mexico, Chadron State, Northwestern OK, Oklahoma Panhandle State and Rogers State.

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Trey George

Instructional Lessons: Hitting

Trey graduated from Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas in 2001. He was All-Greater Houston in 2000 and 2001; 1st Team All-District every year during high school; posted a .583 batting average his senior year which was the highest in the state of Texas during 2001. With a successful high school baseball career he earned a scholarship from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, but decided to enter into the Major League Baseball draft in 2001. He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 21st round of the Pro Amateur draft and went on to join the Rockies organization. Trey played 4 years with the Colorado Rockies reaching as high as high A ball. He was released by the Colorado Rockies in spring of 2005. Trey continued his baseball career playing Independent Professional ball for various teams such as the San Angelo Colts, El Paso Diablos, Texarkana Gunslingers, and the Alpine Cowboys. During his season with the Texarkana Gunslingers, Trey earned MVP honors in 2009. He also won the Batting Title and Homerun Derby during the All-Star break in 2009. After an injury during the 2010 season with the Alpine Cowboys, Trey decided to take a brief break in his baseball career. He anticipates continuing his baseball career and playing with a local Independent Professional League next season. Trey has expertise in hitting and fielding; he enjoys sharing his talents and skills with other individuals, teams, and family members.