Baseball Staff

Meet your Hayner Academy/ Sports Barn Baseball Staff

  • Norm Hayner (Co-Owner)

    Specializes in hitting, pitching, Catching

    • Norm currently coaches the Barnstormers 15u Travel Baseball Team.
    • Varsity Baseball Coach at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake H.S. 1995 - 2000.  Led Spartans to 1998 Section II Class A title, Region IV title and runner up finish at NY State final four.
    • Former Pitching Coach at UMass/Amherst, Siena College, Skidmore College and Schenectady C.C.
    • Division I catcher and graduate of Siena College ('85).
    • Earned M.S. in Sport Management at UMass/Amherst ('92)
    •  Former Player/Manager of Apex Printing in Albany Twilight League, achieving 3 consecutive league championships, 3 NYS AABC Stan Musial Division Titles, 1 AABC North Atlantic Regional Championship and 2 runner ups and a 3rd place finish at the 1989 Stan Musial World Series in Battle Creek, Michigan.
    •  Member of the Shenendehowa Athletic Hall of Fame and Albany Twilight League Hall of Fame


  • Ken Hayner (Co-Owner)

    Hitting, Pitching, and Fielding


    • Since 2014, Ken has been the Director of the Hayner Academy Barnstormers Travel Baseball Program.
    • Head Baseball Coach at Hartwick College 1988 - 1998.  Was named Empire Athletic Association Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1993.  Received Louisville Slugger Coaching Award in 1994.  Led '94 team to NCAA New York Regional Tournament.  '92, '94 and '96 teams captured ECAC Upstate New York Championship.
    • Served as Assistant Coach at Siena College '84, '85, '87 and UMass/Amherst. '86.
    • In 1982 played professionally as a shortstop for the Utica Blue Sox of the New York-Penn League and received NY-Penn League's Achievement Award for development.
    • Former Division I player and graduate of Siena College '82. 
    • Received M.S. in Sport Management from UMass/Amherst in '87.
    • Member of the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame, Siena College Sports HOF, Shenendehowa Athletic HOF and Albany Twilight League HOF.



  • Kyle wilkins

    specializes in hitting, fielding and pitching

    • Kyle served as the Head Coach at The College of St. Rose  from 2014 - 2016.  Kyle was an assistant coach at St. Rose from 2012 - 2014.
    • Served as hitting coach for the Amsterdam Mohawks in the Perfect Game League in 2010 and 2011 helping them win the PG League Championship in 2010.
    • From 2004 - 2007, Kyle served as an assistant coach at Ithaca College helping the Bombers appear in four straight NCAA Regional Tournaments.
    • Kyle was a four year starting infielder at Ithaca College.  He was also team captain and was honored as 2003 Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year.
    • Kyle holds a bachelor's degree in athletic communications from Ithaca and a master's in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia University at Irvine (CA).

  • Jonathan Kaiser

    Specializes in Pitching and Hitting

    • Jonathan is the current pitching coach at Skidmore College
    • Jonathan is currently the pitching coach for the Barnstormers 16u team.
    • Jonathan pitched for Skidmore from 2017-2020
    • Played a 5th year at Division I George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia
    • '21 tied for most appearances with 14
    • '21 earned the save vs. Richmond for George Mason's first win of the year.
    • '21 Picked up the win with 4 innings of relief vs Davidson.
    • Led Skidmore in '20 with a 2.95 ERA
    • '21 Assistant Coach with Bradley Baseball Academy 16u travel team
    • Jonathan joined the Hayner Academy Staff in September '21

  • Carson Dunkel

    Specializes in hitting, catching, pitching, fielding

    • Carson is currently the Head Coach of the Barnstormers 14u team.
    • Carson played four years of Division I baseball at Siena and UAlbany as a catcher and graduated with a degree in Communications.
    • Carson played in our Barnstormers Travel Program for three years.  In July of 2018 Carson's walk off 8th inning double knocked in the winning run in the Barnstormers 5-4 victory over Team Nokona in the championship game of the Boston Open leading the Barnstormers to a perfect 7-0 record.
    • Carson is a 2018 graduate of Schuylerville High School.  Carson was two-time Albany Times Union Small School Catcher First Team All-Star and Times Union First Team Defensive Back in football.
    • Carson is available for hitting, catching, pitching and fielding lessons.

  • Matt Colbert

    Specializes in Pitching and Hitting

    • Matt served as the Head Assistant/Pitching Coach at Williams College from 2018-2021.
    • Matt served as the Head Assistant Strength Coach at Elmira College 2016-2018.
    • Matt served as Assistant Baseball Coach at Pomona-Pitzer College in Claremont, California during the 2015 season.
    • Matt was a standout pitcher for Ithaca College.  Matt helped Ithaca to a school record 41 wins  in 2013 and pitched in the Division III World Series that same year. 
    • Matt is currently the Assistant Coach for our Barnstormers 13u team.


  • Justin Yurchak

    Specializes in baseball hitting, fielding and pitching


    • Justin is completing his 6th season of professional baseball as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.
    • In 2021, Justin hit .356 in 62 games for the High A Great Lakes Loons which earned Justin a mid-season promotion to the AA Tulsa Drillers.  In 30 games for Tulsa Justin hit .383 for a combined 2021 average of .365!
    • In over 1100 minor league at bats Justin has posted  a .321 career average!
    • in 2019, Justin hit .321 with 13 home runs and 46 RBI between the Dodgers' Rookie Advanced level team in Odgen, Utah and its Class A team, Great Lakes, in Michigan. After leading the Pioneer League in both on-base percentage (.496) and OPS (1.194), Yurchak earned his promotion to Great Lakes in mid-July and finished with five home runs and 42 hits in 38 games.
    • Justin was drafted in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox.
    • Justin played his freshman year of college at Wake Forest and was named to the ACC All Freshmen team.
    • Justin transferred to Binghamton University and was named first team all -conference at  Binghamton before being drafted by the White Sox.
    • Justin graduated from Shenendehowa in 2014 and was named to the First Team All New York State Team as a shortstop his senior year.


  • Josh Hayner

    specializes in Hitting and fielding

    • Josh Hayner is a 2019 graduate of Messiah College.  
    • At Messiah, Josh was named MAC  - All Conference First Team second baseman his junior year after posting a .393 average and Honorable Mention his senior year after posting a .348 average.  
    • A 2015 graduate of Shenendehowa, Josh was named Suburban Council Second Team All-Star as a junior and Second Team Shortstop as a senior.
    • 2015 Josh was named Shenendehowa Offensive Player of the Year after posting a .452 average.  Josh finished his 2 year varsity career with a .436 career average.
    • Josh joined the Hayner Academy Staff in September '19. 

  • Anthony Ruzzo

    Specializes in Hitting, Fielding and Pitching

    • Anthony is entering his senior year at Union College where he is majoring in mechanical engineering.
    • Anthony plays shortstop, second base and third base for the Dutchmen.
    • Anthony was a 4 year varsity baseball player at Schalmont HS and 2 year captain.
    • In his junior year, Anthony was named First Team Colonial Council shortstop and was selected to the 518 Futures Game.
    • Anthony played four years for our Barnstormers Travel Program.  In 2021 he hit .350 with 4 triples out of the #3 spot in the order