Lance Ratchford was hired as the seventh head coach in Marist baseball program history on Aug. 8, 2022. Ratchford enters his fourth season as head coach of the Red Foxes, constantly improving season records each year.
Ratchford has developed players throughout his four years at Marist, including student-athletes earning All-MAAC and academic accolades.
Under Ratchford, the Red Foxes reached the MAAC Championships for two consecutive seasons in 2024 and 2025. The 2025 MAAC Championships marked the most wins in the tournament since 2017 for the Red Foxes.
- MAAC Rookie of the Year: Bayram Hot (2023)
- MAAC All-Rookie Team: Bayram Hot (2023), Ethan Conrad (2023), Noel Rivera (2025), Ethan Marzo (2025)
- MAAC All-Championship Team: Ethan Conrad (2024), Justin Kapuscinski (2024), Lewis Rodriguez (2025), Tyler Hartley (2025)
- First Team All-MAAC: Ethan Conrad (2024)
- Second Team All-MAAC: Brian Hart (2023), Bayram Hot (2023)
- Second Team ABCA All-Region: Brian Hart (2023)
- College Baseball News Freshman All-American: Bayram Hot (2023)
- MAAC All-Academic Team: 17 selections (2023), 21 selections (2024), 17 selections (2025)
- CSC Academic All-District: Niko Amory (2023), Jack Keenan (2023,2024), Colin Mackle (2023,2024), Tyler Hartley (2024,2025), Chris Ubner (2025), Andrew Speranza (2025), Nathan Lincoln (2025)
- 2024 NCAA triples leader: Ethan Conrad
- ABCA Academic Excellence Team Award: 2023, 2024, 2025
- 2023: 16-36 overall, 10-14 MAAC
- 2024: 20-35 overall, 10-14 MAAC, Two MAAC Championships wins
- 2025: 26-28 overall, 14-14 MAAC, Three MAAC Championships wins
Ratchford is returning to Marist, having served as assistant coach under former head coach Chris Tracz from 2016-18. As an assistant, Ratchford helped the Red Foxes capture the 2017 MAAC Championship and earn a trip to the Gainesville Regional.
In 2016, the Red Foxes had a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American (Frankie Gregoire), an All-MAAC selection, and 14 members on the MAAC All-Academic team. To go along with the MAAC Championship in 2017, Ratchford coached three All-MAAC players, had 10 MAAC All-Academic team selections, and a player selected in the 2017 MLB Draft (Scott Boches). In his final season with the Red Foxes, Marist had three All-MAAC selections and 13 All-Academic players.
Ratchford returns to Marist after four seasons at SUNY Cobleskill, during which the program experienced tremendous growth. He is coming off a 2022 season in which he was named North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Coach of the Year while his student-athletes earned Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, and Rookie of the Year honors.
In the year prior to his arrival, the Fighting Tigers had a 3-28 record, but immediately improved to 16-22 (9-9 in conference) in his first season as head coach. In 2021, the Tigers were crowned the NAC Western Division Champions and made their first appearance in the NAC Championship. This past season, the Tigers finished with a 21-20 record overall and 11-4 record in the NAC, which marked the first time in school history the program had back-to-back first-place finishes. Overall, Ratchford posted a 60-56 (.517) record as head coach.
Ratchford also has extensive experience in summer league baseball. He is in his second stint as an assistant coach for the Brewster Whitecaps of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. The Whitecaps won the league championship in 2021. In his four seasons at the Cape, Ratchford has coached over 80 Major League Baseball draft picks. Nine have been first-round selections, including Nick Senzel of the Cincinnati Reds, who was chosen second overall in the 2016 draft. Ratchford also was an assistant coach for the Oneonta Outlaws of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League from 2012-14.
Ratchford is a native of Oneonta, New York. He enjoyed a standout prep career at Oneonta High School for head coach Joe Hughes. He went on to play collegiately for three seasons at Mansfield University and one year at Keystone College. In 2011, Ratchford hit .339 for a Keystone team which advanced to the NCAA Division III World Series. The 2011 Keystone team was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2021.
