Baseball: Staff Completed
August 30, 2004 12:02 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
August 30, 2004
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| VanZant |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University baseball coach Greg Van Zant recently announced the additions of Pat Sherald, Kevin Leighton and Andrew Wright to the Mountaineer baseball program.
Sherald was named assistant coach, Leighton takes over as the volunteer assistant coach, while Wright assumes the volunteer administrative assistant position for WVU.
“We are extremely fortunate to be able to attract these caliber of people to join our coaching staff,” says Van Zant. “They are all bright, energetic baseball guys and we are very happy for them to join our program.”
Sherald comes from Lamar University where we he served as an assistant coach for three seasons. He will serve as hitting coach and assist with recruiting for WVU.
At Lamar, Sherald worked primarily with the catchers and pitchers. He assisted the Lamar pitching staff to three consecutive Top 25 rankings in ERA, including sixth in the nation in 2004.
He also coordinated the in-season and off-season strength and conditioning programs for Lamar baseball. The Cardinals made three consecutive trips to the NCAA Regionals under Sherald’s watch. During that time, 14 Cardinals were drafted in professional baseball.
Sherald began his career at Frederick Community College (Md.), where he lettered from 1998-99. As a catcher he earned All-Conference and All-Tournament honors, helped FCC advance to the Division II World Series and finish the season ranked 4th nationally.
A two-year letterman for Lamar from 2000-01, Sherald earned Academic All-Southland Conference honors. He holds two degrees from Lamar, a bachelor's and master’s degree in kinesiology.
After a five-year stint with CSC Consulting in Berwyn, Pa., Leighton returns to the baseball diamond with the Mountaineer catchers. A Bala Cynwyd, Pa., native, Leighton served as a player/coach of the Upper Merion Heat of the Upper Perkiomen Valley League from 1998-2001. In those seasons, he was responsible for player recruitment, game field preparation, batting practice, fund raising and sponsorship and monitoring the pitching staff.
Leighton was a catcher at St. Joseph’s before transferring to St. Louis for three seasons. He was a two-year varsity starter for the Billikens at catcher and first base. He ranks in the Top 15 of St. Louis’ single season batting average with his .377 mark in 1997.
Leighton received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from St. Louis in 1998.
Wright, no stranger to the Mountain state, comes to Morgantown from Concord College in Athens, W.Va. Wright served as an assistant coach with Concord from 2002-04 where his duties included recruitment and instruction with the outfielders and pitching staff.
While at Concord, Wright served as the head coach of the Beckley Bash where he oversaw operations of the NABF U-18 Beckley Bash Showcase Team. In the summer of 2002, Wright was an assistant coach with the Woodstock Shiretowners 13-14 year old baseball team.
Wright was a member of the Concord baseball team from 1999-2002. His 2001 team earned a DII national playoff berth after winning the WVIAC Conference championship. Wright recently earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Concord.
