Former East Bay baseball player Chris Cooper has been named the new head baseball coach at Augusta State University, a Division II program located in Augusta, Ga.

Cooper, a 1998 East Bay grad, has been affiliated with the ASU program for nearly a decade, playing his final two collegiate seasons for the Jaguars before serving as an assistant coach for the last seven years.

Cooper was a Tribune All-Hillsborough County second-team selection as a senior at East Bay after hitting .444 with five homers and 22 RBIs. He signed out of high school with Santa Fe Community College and spent two seasons there before joining the ASU program in 2001.

Cooper was a two-year letterwinner and had his best season with the Jaguars as a senior, when he hit .326 while leading the team in slugging percentage (.674), RBI (59), doubles (14), triples (2) and home runs (16). He was a first team All-Peach Belt Conference selection as well as a first-team all-South Atlantic Region pick that season.

Cooper earned a degree in Health and Physical Education from ASU in 2005, and completed his post-graduate work in the spring of 2007, earning a Masters of Arts in Teaching.

Cooper replaces Stanley “Skip” Fite, who recently resigned after 25 seasons to take the head coaching job at West Georgia.