FROM STAFF REPORTS

University of Montevallo head baseball coach Chandler Rose announced the hiring or Matt Rademacher as an assistant coach Sept. 28.

Rademacher joins assistant coach Erik Maas to round out the baseball coaching staff. Rademacher comes to Montevallo after spending last season as a volunteer assistant coach at Georgia Southern University.

“I am really excited that ‘Coach Raddy’ has decided to join our program and I know he will bring great energy and knowledge to our players,” Rose said. “After working with him at the Air Force Academy, I know he has tremendous work ethic and will make us better. He is a great addition to the University of Montevallo and our program. He will be responsible for the hitters as well as the catchers. He comes from a great baseball background and I look forward to him bringing his experiences to our players.”

Rademacher coached the Georgia Southern catchers, assisted with hitting instruction and coached first base. Georgia Southern won the 2011 Southern Conference Championship and participated in the NCAA Regionals at Columbia, S.C. While at Georgia Southern, Rademacher was fortunate to coach Southern Conference Player of the Year and NCAA All-American Victor Roache and Kansas City Royals’ draftee Shawn Payne. The Eagles also improved behind the plate from their 2010 campaign in fielding percentage, caught-stealing percentage and passed balls allowed.

In 2010, Rademacher spent the season at the Air Force Academy, serving as the volunteer assistant. He worked directly with the Falcon catchers, while also helping supervise the hitters. He helped guide catcher Garrett Custons to three freshman All-America honors. Custons was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America Team by Collegiate Baseball, Ping!Baseball Freshman All-America Team and Pro-Line Athletic NCBWA Freshman All-America Team. Custons finished the year with a .483% caught-stealing.

Rademacher also spent a summer coaching in the Northwoods Collegiate League for the Madison Mallards. As the pitching coach, Rademacher tutored the pitching staff to the second-best earned run average in the league (3.56) while also leading the league in strikeouts and owning the league’s lowest opponent batting average of .237.

He has coached 14 players who have moved onto the professional ranks in his short coaching career at the collegiate level.

He finished his professional playing career before joining the Air Force staff, playing most recently with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier Independent League. He helped anchor a pitching staff that was second in the league in ERA.

Collegiately, Rademacher earned first team All-Big South and second team All-Region honors as a catcher his senior season with Coastal Carolina University. As a captain for the Chanticleers, Rademacher and his teammates hosted their first NCAA regional in school history. An all-around student-athlete, Rademacher also excelled in the classroom, earning all-Big South Academic honors in both 2006 and 2007.

Prior to Coastal Carolina, Rademacher spent three years at the University of Michigan. From 2003-06, Rademacher spent the summers in Alexandria, Minn., playing for the Alexandria Beetles of the Northwoods League.

A native of Bay City, Mich., Rademacher is a 2007 graduate of Coastal Carolina University with a Bachelor of Arts in English.