The German Baseball-Bundesliga club SAARLOUIS HORNETS introduced their new head coach for 2009. The Australian Leo Vivona signed a two-year contract with the fifth-ranked team in the southern conference. He is coming from the Czech champion AVG DRACI BRNO, where he worked as an assistant coach. The 36-year-old had the same role with the National Team in the Czech Republic.
Vivona began his coaching career 1990 in the MINNESOTA TWINS organization, but coached most of the time in the Victorian Baseball League in his home country. The HORNETS contacted him through pitcher Ales Keprta, who knew him from the National Team. Vivona succeeds Tom Gapp, who will step back into an assistant role due to work-related reasons. Gapp followed Fred Beitler this summer, after the club let him go midway through the season. Vivona will arrive in Saarlouis in February.