Camp Directors

Camp Staff

Note: The list below shows the instructors for all of our camps. Instructors for any specific camp may vary.

Ron Black

Ron has been umpiring for 26 years. He has 14 OHSAA Regional tournament assignments and 11 Semi-final/Final OHSAA assignments. He has also worked at the NCAA level for 24 years, and has worked conference tournaments in the GLIAC, Heartland, NCAC, WHAC and PAC conferences. In addition, Ron has officiated multiple NCAA Division III and NAIA Regional tournaments, as well as multiple Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Conference tournaments. He is a former Frontier League umpire and serves as the assigner for the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League and the Ohio Regional Campus Conference. Ron resides in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

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Dave Buck

Dave is in his 33rd year of umpiring. He attended the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School in 1984 and was chosen as the school’s outstanding student. Dave worked the next eleven years in the minor leagues, including four years at the AAA level. He has been umpiring college baseball since 1995, and currently works in the Big Ten, Big West, Mid-American Conference, and PAC-12 Conference. His post season assignments include two Division III Regional tournaments, one Big Ten Conference tournament, three Conference USA tournaments, two Big East Conference tournaments, nine Mid-American Conference tournaments, fifteen Division I Regional tournaments, and nine Division I Super Regional tournaments. Dave was chosen for and worked the Division I College World Series in 2004 and 2007. He also umpired the 2007 World Cup and 2008 Olympic Qualifying tournaments in Taiwan. In addition to umpiring, Dave officiates high school and small college basketball, observes the umpires in Chicago and Detroit for Major League Baseball and is actively involved with fundraising in the fight against cystic fibrosis, a disease affecting his oldest daughter, Hannah.

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Mark Ditsworth

Mark's umpire career spans 35 years. He came off the field as an active umpire following the 2013 season, which culminated in an assignment to the Division I College World Series. While he will be greatly missed on the field, Mark was recently named as NCAA Division I Regional Advisor, replacing Dick Runchey. In this position, Mark will primarily cover and evaluate D1 umpires throughout the Midwest. During his on-field career, he umpired all levels of amateur baseball and has served as the Umpire-In-Chief for the MHSAA State Baseball Finals since 1993. Mark began working college baseball in 1987 and umpired 18 conference tournaments in the Mid-American and Big Ten Conferences. He concluded his on-field career on the staffs of the Big Ten, Big East, Mid-American and Atlantic Ten conferences. Mark was assigned to 12 Division I Regionals, 8 Division I Super Regionals and worked the Division I College World Series in 2007, 2010 and 2013.  In 2007 Mark umpired the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, New Mexico.  He umpired the World University Games in the Czech Republic in 2008. Mark has also worked international baseball, umpiring the 2007 World Cup in Taiwan,  the first ever World Cup of Women's Baseball in Edmonton, Canada and multiple Olympic qualifiers.  Mark also officiates Division II, III, NAIA and junior college basketball. He serves on the selection committee for the Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame, and was inducted into both the Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame and the Lansing Eastern Sports Hall of Fame.

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Mike Duffy

Mike has been umpiring for over 20 years. He currently works college baseball primarily in the Big Ten, Mid-American, and American Athletic Conferences. He has umpired post season tournaments for the Big Ten, Mid-American, Big East and Midwestern Collegiate Conferences and has worked nine NCAA Division I Regional Tournaments and three NCAA Division I Super Regional Tournaments. In 2015, he was selected for and umpired the Division I College World Series in Omaha, NE. Mike has also worked NCAA Division II, III, and JUCO Regional Tournaments. Mike has umpired three baseball high school State Championships. He currently works high school football and officiated a MHSAA State Final in 2012. He retired recently after a long career as a high school basketball official.

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Tim Farwig

Tim is in his 18th year of umpiring, working the last twelve years at the collegiate level. He currently works at the Division I level in the Mid-American, Big10, Horizon and Atlantic 10 conferences. Tim works in the Frontier League and assigns The Prospect League. His postseason experience includes the 2015-17 MAC Conference tournament, 2011-14 NAIA World Series and multiple NJCAA regional tournaments. In 2016 Tim worked the 18U Pan American Championship in Monterrey, Mexico. He is a two-time attendee of the Bruce Doane Sr. Umpire Camp and resides in Elkhart, Indiana with his wife Kristin.

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Cory Hinga

Cory has been umpiring for 14 years. He attended the Wendelstedt Umpire School in 2005 and spent six seasons umpiring in Minor League baseball before choosing to retire in 2010. His last season was spent as a crew chief in AA in the Eastern League. Cory umpired in the Appalachian, Midwest, Florida State, and Eastern Leagues, working the Championship series in the Midwest and Florida State Leagues and the playoffs in the Eastern League. He was selected to umpire in the fall Florida Instructional League twice and the fall Arizona Instructional League. He was also selected to umpire in the Venezuelan Winter League for the 2008-2009 season. Currently Cory umpires collegiate baseball in the MAC and Horizon as well as at the DII, DIII and NAIA levels. He also officiates high school football and basketball and teaches high school math in Schoolcraft. Cory resides in Kalamazoo with his wife, Jennifer and children, Grace and Brody. 

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Jim Jackson

Jim came off the field after the 2015 season and joined the NCAA as a Division I Regional Evaluator. He was an active umpire for 35 years, spending the last 28 years working college baseball. The majority of his assignments were in the Big Ten, Missouri Valley and American Athletic Conference. He umpired ten Big Ten Conference Tournaments, five Missouri Valley Conference Tournaments, and one Big East Conference Tournament. Jim was selected thirteen times for Division I Regional Tournaments and eight times for Super Regional Tournaments. In 2010 Jim was selected for and worked the Division I College World Series. He also umpired the 2002 Division III World Series and numerous Division III and NAIA Regionals, as well as 15 high school Regionals and Sectionals in Indiana. In 2005 Jim worked the 36th World Cup of Baseball in the Netherlands and in 2008 umpired the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Taiwan. He recently retired as an Indiana State Police Officer after 32 years of service, and is currently employed as a safety officer for a trucking company.

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Steve Linton

Steve has been umpiring for 27 years. Currently he umpires in the Big 10, Mid-American Conference and the Horizon League. His post season experience includes one MAC tournament, two Horizon League tournaments, ten DII Midwest Regional tournaments and the 2017 DII World Series. Steve has also umpired 15 years of Independent League professional baseball in the Central, CanAm, Atlantic and American Association. In addition to umpiring baseball, Steve also referees high school volleyball, basketball and enjoys fishing. He resides in Bay City, MI with his wife Cindy.

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Brent Rice

Brent serves as the Administrative Director and Chief of Instruction for the Wendelstedt Umpire School, a position he has held for the past 8 years. His responsibilities include staff management, coordination of curriculum, and daily classroom lectures. He umpired professionally for 13 years following his graduation from The Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires in 2000. Brent and his family recently moved to Southwest Michigan from the New Orleans area while he completes his MPA at Western Michigan University. During the offseason, he enjoys golfing and spending time with his wife, Jenna, and two daughters, Abigail and Lucy.

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Nick Sweeney

Nick as been umpiring for 23 years, since the age of 13. He started umpiring JUCO college at the age of 17, working his way through college. While at Northern Illinois he worked numerous exhibition games for the Schaumburg Flyers of the former Northern Independent Professional League. After graduation, Nick attended the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpires in January of 2005. Nick was asked to work spring training that year where he was able to work several Major League intersquad games. His first assignment was the Appalachian league where he worked the championship series. He was assigned to the South Atlantic League the following season but decided to retire after the 2006 strike and go into the business world. Since then, Nick has mainly worked JUCO college at all levels working a number of regionals, quarterfinals, and sectional finals. He resides in Cedar Springs with his wife Megan and two children, Griffin and Kyla.

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Scott Taylor

Scott Taylor comes back to the Bruce Doane Umpire Camp after being recently named the NCAA National Coordinator of Umpires for Division II baseball. He began his umpiring journey working Little League games with his father Adrian in Blackwell, OK at the age of 13. He continued working all levels of youth baseball through his college years until deciding to attend the Bill Kinnamon Umpire School in 1982. Scott then began a five year minor league career that included stops in the Pioneer League, Arizona Instructional League, Florida State League and the Texas League in 1985-86 before leaving the game to begin a career in business. His collegiate career began in 1987, as he began working many different levels of baseball. After taking 11 years away from umpiring, Scott returned to college baseball in 2006 and immediately achieved success, including many postseason assignments at both the Division I and Division II levels. He counts one of the biggest highlights of his long career as being selected to work at two consecutive NCAA Division II World Series in 2007 and 2008. Scott retired from active umpiring after the 2014 season and spent the next two years as the Supervisor of Umpires for the Great Lakes Valley Conference before accepting the NCAA job in November. He resides in Indianapolis with his wife Brenda, where he is self-employed.

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Dave Uyl

David currently umpires college baseball in the Big Ten and American Athletic conferences. He worked his first Super Regional in 2017. He has also worked four regionals along with working the previous six Big Ten conference tournaments. David previously spent ten seasons in professional baseball. He attended the Jim Evans Umpire Academy and later served as an instructor. He was twice invited to the Arizona Fall League, which led to him working two MLB Spring Trainings. David worked four seasons in AAA, serving as a crew chief for two of those years along with working the IL championship series. David also officiates college football in the Missouri Valley Conference. He played football and baseball at Hope College. David is currently a specialty development executive with a clinical laboratory. He resides in Chicago with his wife and two sons.

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