Davidson College Baseball

After four seasons as associate head coach and six total years on the Davidson staff, Rucker Taylor took the reins as head coach of the Wildcats program in July, 2018. The 2026 season is his eighth as head coach. In his first seven years, the Wildcats compiled a 193-143 (.574) record, pushing him into second on the program's all-time wins list. Named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2022, Taylor led the Wildcats to a single-season school record 43 wins and the 120-year-old program's first outright regular season conference championship. The Wildcats finished 43-13 (.768), were 20-4 (.833) in A-10 play, and Taylor was named to Baseball America's Coaches to Watch List. The 30-24 campaign of 2023 was the program's fourth 30-win season. Taylor has been a part of all of them. Taylor has made an impact at every stop. His instruction helped lead Samford to its first NCAA Regional in 2012, then Davidson to its first Regional and Super Regional in 2017.

Aidan Wirshing joined the Davidson baseball coaching staff as director of player development in September, 2023. Wirshing most recently served in a similar role for two years at Gardner-Webb. In his role, Wirshing will work with the Rapsodo and Trackman analytical programs to track and implement data. He'll handle all practice and in-game video and serve as the team's coordinator with 'Cats Stats. Wirshing earned an English degree from UC Santa Barbara in 2020 and earned his master's in sports management from Gardner-Webb in 2023. Prior to working at Gardner-Webb, he was an assistant coach/director of analytics at Santa Barbara City College in 2021. He served as the student manager at UC Santa Barbara in 2020. Wirshing has spent multiple summers coaching as well, primarily in the Northwoods League, where he is slated to serve as the field manager/head coach of the Kenosha Kingfish in 2024.

Jacob Dean (JD) started working at Davidson during the 2023 academic year as an assistant strength and conditioning coach who oversees baseball as well as men's and women's tennis. He received his bachelor's and master's degree from The University of Alabama in human performance and exercise science respectively. While attending Alabama, JD was served as an intern in the weight room with football, baseball, tennis, rowing and swimming and diving for three years. After graduating, JD continued his career with the Minnesota Twins as a strength coach in their farm system for five seasons, ending in AAA and working the Alternate Site and with the Major League Team during the COVID-19 season.

Joe Sheridan joined the Davidson baseball staff as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for pitching in January, 2024. Sheridan came to Davidson after a stint at UCF, his alma mater. "We are very excited about Joe joining us," said head coach Rucker Taylor. "As a person, he'll add value to our community. As a coach, he will continue a lot of things in progress and will add to that foundation and continue to develop our program." Sheridan previously made coaching stops at Cincinnati and Siena, where he served as interim head coach last spring. "I would like to start by thanking Coach Taylor for the opportunity to be a part of the program he has built here at Davidson College," said Sheridan. "It is an honor to be able to continue the tradition of working with high-level students and high-level athletes at this school." A left-handed pitcher, Sheridan played at UCF from 2017 to 2020, then completed his eligibility in 2021 at Notre Dame. He was a part of two NCAA Tournament teams, in

John Lyons-Harrison joined the Davidson baseball coaching staff in January, 2026. Lyons-Harrison fills the role of assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for position players. He came to Davidson after serving as an assistant coach for two seasons at Iona College in New York. While at Iona, Lyons-Harrison helped the Gaels finish with their most wins since 2017 and put up some of their best offensive numbers since 2001. He coached two First-Team All-MAAC players, two MAAC All-Rookie Team members and the 2025 MAAC Rookie of the Year. Prior to Iona, Lyons-Harrison spent the 2023 season as the director of baseball operations at Notre Dame. He was at Lafayette from 2020 to 2022, serving as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. A native of Burke, Va., Lyons-Harrison earned a degree in kinesiology from VCU in 2016. The Lyons-Harrisons now reside in Mooresville.

Justin Parker joined the Davidson staff in September, 2018 after working 15 years in the newspaper industry. He is the primary contact for baseball, field ho...

Parker Nolan '22 returned to his alma mater and joined the Wildcats as an assistant coach in late August, 2025. Known for covering a lot of territory as an all-conference center fielder, Nolan helped the Wildcats secure their first Atlantic 10 regular-season title and win a school-record 43 games in his senior season. A Wilmington native, Nolan said he is thrilled to return to Davidson, where he played in 116 games, had a .905 career OPS and was three times voted "Best Teammate" by his teammates. As a senior, Nolan was an Atlantic 10 First Team selection as the Wildcats eclipsed the 40-win mark for the first time and rolled to a 20-4 A-10 regular season. He was an all-around producer, hitting .310 with a 1.105 OPS, 58 runs, 11 doubles, five triples, 15 home runs, 50 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Nolan had two two-homer games his senior season, and on May 12, 2022 in a win at Saint Joseph's, he etched his name into the Davidson record book by hitting the first cycle