A proven program builder of Division III SUNY Cobleskill and set to begin his third season as head coach of the Red Foxes, Lance Ratchford faces his biggest challenge yet: utilizing the transfer portal to replace his two biggest offensive contributors, all while continuing year-to-year improvement in the regular season.
Coming off a 16-win season and missing the MAAC Championships in Ratchford’s inaugural season in 2023, the team won 20 games to nab the final spot in the 2024 MAAC Championships. After a surprise semifinal appearance, they ultimately fell to the No. 1 seed MAAC powerhouse Fairfield 11-8.
Part of the late-season success was Ratchford’s big weapons on offense who have moved on to bigger programs: junior outfielder/first baseman Ethan Conrad to Wake Forest University and junior infielder Bayram Hot to the University of Louisville.
Conrad led the squad in virtually every major offensive category, posting a .389 batting average with an impressive 1.171 OPS, even leading the entire NCAA in triples with 13. Hot also bolstered the lineup, finishing within the top three of many major offensive categories. He proved to be sure-handed at shortstop, committing only six errors and accumulating a fielding percentage of .973.
Additionally, graduate student pitcher Jack Wren transferred to the University of Maryland, meaning three players will take their talents to Power 5 programs from the Red Foxes. Wren tossed 50 innings last year for the Red Foxes–second most on the team–with a 3.50 ERA in 17 appearances.
To compete for a MAAC Championship in 2025, the coaching staff identified the areas of need from players that transferred out or graduated.
“Right away, we knew we were going to have to add at least two major bats, preferably an infielder and an outfielder, and look at what innings we were going to have to replace on the pitching staff,” said Ratchford.
Consequently, Ratchford and his coaching staff stayed aggressive in the transfer portal over the summer, adding a total of nine players, including: sophomore left-handed pitcher Andrew Speranza, junior infielder/outfielder AJ Brotz, graduate student infielder Zach Donahue, graduate student outfielder Jason Claiborn, redshirt freshman outfielder Chris Diaz, redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Bobby LeFevre, junior infielder/outfielder Aydan McNelly, junior right-handed pitcher Jake Burt and redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Ryan VanDeWater.
With these new transfers in the fold, Ratchford believes that he and his coaching staff did “a pretty good job” filling in their roster. Ratchford highlighted the importance of bringing in a quality outfielder; the first name mentioned was Diaz.
“We started following Chris [Diaz] all summer in the Cal Ripken League where he became an all-star,” said Ratchford. “As soon as he popped into the portal, we knew that this was someone we could target and grab.”
In the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League (CRSCBL) last summer, Diaz hit .338 with a .932 OPS for the Bethesda Big train.
Diaz spent his first collegiate season at Tulane University in Louisiana. He was a top recruit out of high school in the state of New York in 2023 and was looking to make an impact as a freshman for the Green Wave. After a stellar fall season, Diaz unfortunately suffered a partially torn patellar tendon in his knee, effectively ending his season.
While in the portal, Diaz was looking for a school that would offer him a definitive role for his next season, hopefully turning his aspirations of becoming a professional baseball player into a reality.
“With Marist, it all came down to the opportunity to play right away and being in a comfortable environment where I can develop myself into a pro,” said Diaz. “Another reason was having some familiarity with the roster, especially Lewis Rodriguez, who was a deciding factor in my decision.”
Diaz and Rodriguez played travel baseball together for a considerable period of time, forging a great relationship. Diaz considers Rodriguez to be one of his closest friends.
Ratchford also believes Donahue will have a direct impact in the lineup. Donahue arrived at Marist through Division III powerhouse Eastern Connecticut State University, where he was a key contributor for his entire career. Over three seasons, Donahue slashed .308, driving in 104 runs with a .858 OPS.
Apart of the 2022 NCAA Division III championship team, his pedigree and experience lead Donahue as a strong candidate to take over at shortstop.
“You never really know how to tell the future, but we replace Conrad with two really good outfielders in Diaz and [Jason] Claiborn and we replace Bayram with Donahue, who could be a little bit of an upgrade at shortstop defensively and offensively,” said Ratchford. “Donahue hits from both sides of the plate and is a super mature player.”
Claiborn was on the national championship team with Donahue at Eastern Connecticut State and a candidate to replace Conrad’s large impact last season, according to Ratchford. Over his four-year career at ECSU, Claiborn hit .334, collecting 202 career hits and a .859 OPS. Donahue and Claiborn have a great relationship, which is a contributing factor to why he chose Marist.
Donahue is interested in joining the coaching staff after the season and getting his coaching career underway. In the meantime, Donahue is ready to be a leader on the field this season and help the Red Foxes win a MAAC Championship.
“Being great friends with Jason [Claiborn] was not necessarily the deciding factor, but it definitely helped me sway my decision,” said Donahue. “Looking for an opportunity to get into coaching after baseball was something I was looking to do, and after talking with Coach Ratchford, that opportunity has presented itself.”
While the offense has found replacements, Marist was weakened by pitching when compared to upper echelon MAAC teams. Last season, Marist had a team ERA of 7.90, which ranked second to last in the MAAC, only being ahead of St. Peter’s. In addition, the Red Foxes threw the most wild pitches, allowed the second-most hits, third-most home runs and plunked the third-most batters in the conference.
Ratchford and company brought in four arms via the portal: Burt, LeFevre, Speranza, and VanDeWater. These pitchers look to right the ship and get the staff trending in a better direction by season’s end. Burt is the pitcher in line to fill the void left by Jack Wren, who threw 50 innings last year for the team.
“On the mound, our priority was looking for guys who can give us starting innings,” said Ratchford. “Jake [Burt] is a guy who started games on Friday’s and will have the opportunity to battle it out for a starting job.”
Burt had a strong sophomore season at Brookdale Community College. Going 10-0 with a 3.48 ERA while striking out 70 batters in 62 innings pitched, he had the most innings thrown on the team last season. Burt also compiled a 1.21 WHIP last season, keeping runners off base and commanding the strike zone, something the Red Foxes need to do a better job of this season.
Marist was not the only Division I school in the running for Burt’s services, as the right-handed pitcher spoke with Monmouth University, Lafayette College and Central Connecticut State University.
Burt played high school baseball with junior catcher Kyle Pollack, who gave him some information about the coaching staff and the overall atmosphere of the team.
“They [the Marist coaching staff] were completely different and approached me differently compared to other schools,” said Burt.
Another contributing factor to the eventual commitment to Marist was his mom, Kathleen Burt. She is a Marist alum who made him aware of the opportunity choosing her alma mater
Making the jump from the community college level to the Division I level is challenging, and an adjustment period is needed. Intriguingly, Burt began his collegiate career at the University of Hartford, a Division I school, before transferring to Brookdale after the season. Even though Burt did not see many innings his freshman season at Hartford, he mentioned his time at Harford as a great learning experience.
Now back at the Division I level, Burt detected rather quickly that the hitters at this level are much more mature than at the community college level. As a result, he believes that he has to be deliberate and have a specific plan of attack for each hitter.
“Division I hitters are much more intelligent than junior college hitters and can see whether or not you are tipping pitches,” said Burt. “They are always looking for an advantage and I have to be aware of that.”
With all of these transfers coming in, along with the freshman class, Ratchford is very confident that his club can compete with the class of the MAAC this upcoming season. He mentions how the chemistry is very strong even with nine transfers entering the mix, and it will only continue to blossom as the season unfolds.
“I believe that this team can make it to championship Saturday,” Ratchford said, “We have every opportunity to go out and compete for a MAAC Championship.
Edited by Dan Aulbach and Jaylen Rizzo
Cover Graphic By Dan Aulbach
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X and TikTok, and sign up to receive daily alerts here.