Marshall baseball head coach Jeff Waggoner announced the hiring of Taylor Sandefur as pitching coach on Monday.
Sandefur joins the Thundering Herd after spending the past four seasons at Western Carolina as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
"I am extremely excited to announce Taylor Sandefur as our new pitching coach at Marshall," coach Waggoner said. "Taylor has an advanced ability to help our talented pitching staff using biomechanics, analytics and most importantly, to help them become the best versions of themselves. He is great at building relationships and a great communicator, which will help recruit high level players at MU.
"I would also like to welcome Taylor's wife, Kourtney, and son, Tate, to the Marshall baseball family."
Sandefur was a standout pitcher and hitter for the Western Carolina Catamounts and returned to his alma mater after coaching stops with the Aldie (Va.) Senators of the Valley League, at Appalachian State (2015-16), St. Andrews University (2017), and Erskine College (2018).
"I am extremely excited to join the Marshall family," Sandefur said. "I am grateful for the opportunity that coach Waggoner has presented me with, and I can't wait to get to work on bringing a championship to Huntington."
The Catamounts' pitching staff saw immediate results with Sandefur in charge beginning in 2019. The staff went from allowing over 11 hits per nine innings to under 10 in 2019, an ERA that was over 7.00 down to 4.50 by 2020, and an opponent batting average that was .308 in 2018 down to .282 in 2019 and then .267 in 2020. The number of strikeouts per nine innings also saw a steady increase to just under nine in 2022.
This past season, the Catamounts pitching staff recorded 506 total strikeouts, the second-most in a single season in team history. Zach Franklin thrived under Sandefur's tutelage as he was named First Team All-Southern Conference in 2022. Franklin went from the bullpen to a starter for his final six appearances of the season. The redshirt junior finished with a 5-1 record, a 2.06 ERA (16th in team history) and 70 strikeouts in 56.2 innings pitched. He also held his opponents to a .203 batting average, second-best for a single season in program history.
Franklin wasn't the only pitcher to put his name into the Western Carolina record book during Sandefur's tenure. Zebby Matthews, who was named Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week three times in 2021, tossed 122 strikeouts in 2022 which is good for third best at WCU. He also tied the single-season record with two shutouts in 2021. That same season, Matthews ranked fourth in the NCAA in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 8.57 and is Western's all-time career leader in the same category at 7.03 (211 Ks to 30 BBs). Matthews is fourth in career strikeouts (211) and shutouts (two).
Chase Walter saw improvement in 2019 totaling 114 strikeouts, fourth-best at the time, and was off to a good start in 2020 before the remainder of the season was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. Walter later signed with the San Diego Padres.
Before returning to his alma mater, Sandefur spent the 2018 season at Division II Erskine College in Due West, S.C. He served as the recruiting coordinator while also the pitching coach for the varsity and junior varsity teams. The Flying Fleet posted a 22-8 home record and averaged nearly 10 strikeouts per game. The pitching staff totaled 458 strikeouts, good for the second-most in team history.
In his one season at St. Andrews University, an NAIA school in Laurinburg, N.C., Sandefur was responsible for many day-to-day operations of the team including the squad's strength and conditioning, game day preparations and camps coordinator.
The Mechanicsville, Virginia, native spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons at Appalachian State while the Mountaineers made the move to the Sun Belt. Sandefur was the volunteer assistant in Boone and mainly worked with the catchers in the field and base running as it related to offense. In those two seasons, Appalachian State recorded a .696 stolen base percentage including an incredible .804 in 2015.
His first coaching stop came in the Valley League in Virginia with the Aldie Senators as the pitching coach before making the move to Appalachian State. Sandefur also coached in the summer Dirty 30 Showcase in Cary, N.C., in 2014-17.
Sandefur began his playing career at Western Carolina as a pitcher and as the Friday night starter. He was a member of back-to-back regular season Southern Conference Championships in 2013 and 2014. Shoulder injuries eventually forced him from the mound to the plate as he made the move to designated hitter. In his pitching career, Sandefur appeared in 38 games with 19 starts and totaled 71 strikeouts in 107.2 innings. As a sophomore in 2011, he struck out a career-best 40 batters in 43.2 innings.
At the plate in 2014, he bat .310 with 26 hits, scored 16 runs, five doubles, one home run, 13 RBI and drew 20 walks. His on base percentage was .444. He went 2-of-3 with two walks and scored three runs in an 18-10 win over No. 15 Clemson. His home run came in a 6-5 win over Elon. Sandefur was named Second-Team All-State by the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) and was one of 80 players on the initial watch list for the 2014 Gregg Olson Breakout Player of the Year Award.
Following his freshman year, Sandefur pitched with the Waynesboro (Va.) Generals of the Valley League and garnered top pitching honors in the summer of 2010. He recorded a 7-0 record with a 2.26 ERA and was listed as one of the league's top prospects. In the summer of 2011, Sandefur earned a spot with the Falmouth (Mass.) Commodores of the prestigious Cape Cod League.
At Altee High School (Hanover County, Virginia), Sandefur was a three-time all-district selection and a four-time all-academic honoree.
Sandefur graduated from Western Carolina in May of 2014 with a B.S. in communication. Sandefur was married to former WCU cheerleader and assistant cheerleading coach, the former Kourtney Kirby, on Dec. 30, 2017. The couple has a son, Tate.
Source: https://herdzone.com/news/2022/6/27/baseball-welcomes-sandefur-as-pitching-coach.aspx
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