Dave Shelton first entered the Walters State baseball program as an assistant in 2003.

Twenty-three years later, he stands as the winningest head coach in program history.

On Tuesday, Shelton surpassed his predecessor and former boss, Hall of Famer Ken Campbell, with his 651st victory in a 12-4 win over Georgia Highlands in the opening game of the Appalachian District Series. Shelton’s record stands at 652-141-1 after the Senators punched their 13th ticket to the NJCAA World Series with a win in game two.

Since taking over the program in 2014, Shelton has simply tried to maintain the standard that Campbell set.

“It says more about what Coach Campbell was able to accomplish,” Shelton said. “You’re passing somebody else who did it first. He did it first. What he was able to get started at Walters State and get built was an amazing accomplishment on his part. We’ve just tried to keep it going over the last few years.”

Campbell first hired Shelton when Campbell was the head coach at ETSU and later brought him to Walters State as the recruiting coordinator, where the two would coach together for 10 years, compiling a record of 471 – 118 and winning the program’s only national championship.

“I learned a ton under him,” Shelton said. “He gave me my start in this profession when he hired me all the way back when he was at East Tennessee State, and then he had the opportunity to hire me at Walters as an assistant. I was able to learn under him for 10 years, and we accomplished quite a bit in those 10 years.

I’m just really fortunate to even be mentioned in the same breath with him.”

Shelton rarely views the mounting victories as an individual achievement.

Though his name will stand alone with the number in the record books, he redirects the credit to the players, assistants and coaches who helped build the program alongside him.

No single part of the program goes untouched. Small details like keeping flowers off the field are part of a larger standard that extends into the practice facility and into every pitch and at-bat on game day.

“The program is the program,” Shelton said. “Every piece of it matters, and I think that’s something that we stress at Walters. It’s attention to detail in every little aspect, whether making sure we got all the dandelions picked off the outfield, or making sure that there’s no leaf left on the field in the fall to paying attention to detail on every play, every pitch, every rep that you take. We feel like that’s the best way to maximize improving as baseball players.”

No staffer has played a bigger role in that success than pitching coach Sean Robinson, who has been on staff since Shelton took over.

Robinson was named ABCA NJCAA DI Baseball Assistant Coach of the Year during the Senators’ run to the NJCAA World Series Championship Game.

“I’ve got a great coaching staff with us now, and we’ve had a bunch of great assistants over the years,” Shelton said. “Coach Robinson, our pitching coach, has been with me the whole time I’ve been the head coach here. You look at his resume, and it’s pretty impressive in its own right as the pitching coach, he’s done a phenomenal job. He was the national assistant coach of the year this past year. So, I’m blessed to had a lot of good assistants. They’ve been as much a part of what we’ve built as I have.”

Together, Shelton and Robinson have seen 69 pitchers move on to the Division I ranks, with 18 pitchers selected in the MLB Draft, and seven appearing in an MLB game.

In total, 26 Senators have been drafted to the majors under Shelton, and 129 have moved on to sign with DI schools.

Though Shelton and his teams have piled up wins and records during his tenure, he said what matters just as much is what happens after players leave Walters State.

“To know that you had a little part in these guys achieving their dreams, it means everything,” he said.

That impact became clear two years ago at Truist Park.

Shelton watched the Dodgers and Braves play and saw former Senators Brent Honeywell and Landon Knack pitch in back-toback innings.

“I kind of teared up a little bit,” Shelton said. “It was very emotional seeing those guys and just understanding that these guys made it. Like, I know where they started. I can remember when they first came to our campus and worked out, and there wasn’t really anybody else who really wanted them. They both came into our program and worked their tails off and really got their journey started. That’s as satisfying as anything we do.”

The key for the talent factory that runs through Walters State under Shelton is their emphasis on recruiting.

“Recruiting is the lifeblood of our program,” Shelton said. “You don’t win horse races without a thoroughbred. You’ve got to go out and get the right players, and that takes an entire staff effort. There’s probably not a coaching staff in America that goes out and sees more high school games than we do in season. When the summertime gets here, all we do is travel around, watching high school games and evaluating players. And I think that’s as big a part of what we’ve accomplished here.”

The challenge is selling the pull of a JUCO baseball in a world where everyone wants to go DI or another four-year school.

That pitch is rooted in developing players enough to put them in a better situation to succeed at the next level.

“No one grows up dreaming of going to junior college to play,” Shelton said. “So you have to kind of educate them on the process. If you get drafted by Major League Baseball, no one sends you straight to the major leagues. You play the minor leagues a little bit. That’s what it takes to develop, and there’s a reason for that. So whether we like it or not, the majority of high school kids are not ready for the Division I level when they come straight out of high school, especially now with the ages of most of them competing against 20 to 24-year-old grown men. And it’s, it’s really hard to do that as a freshman coming out of high school.

“It’s really just educating them through the process, having them come take a look at us and what we do in our program. Usually a big eye opener for them is when they come watch us play. It kind of makes them realize, ‘Ok I got to get a little bit better if I’m going to be ready for college.’ And that’s part of what we do. We’re all about bringing in guys and doing everything in our power to develop them into the best players they can be. Usually, if we get the right kids, and they work hard in our program, things end up for the best for them.”

Even with the record now his, Shelton said the standard at Walters State has not changed.

The Senators are headed back to Grand Junction once again, where Shelton’s program continues its pursuit of a national championship.

“Obviously, we set a goal every year to win the national championship,” Shelton said. “Some years it may not be attainable, but that’s our goal. We don’t really make a goal just to get there; that’s part of it. Why not set the goal as the ultimate thing you can achieve? We’ve been close several times, close enough we can kind of taste it a little bit. Maybe one of these times we get out there, we’ll be able to get over the hump and finish this thing out.”