Western Kentucky University Baseball

For media inquiries, please contact Seth-Patrick Holman at seth-patrick.holman@wku.edu. 2025 ABCA/ATEC Midwest Region Co-Coach of the Year 2025 Conference USA Keith LeClair Coach of the Year Marc Rardin enters his fourth season on The Hill after being named the WKU baseball head coach on June 15, 2022. Rardin holds a 115-62 overall record in three years as the head coach of the Hilltoppers, the second-best record of Division I teams that made head coaching hires ahead of the 2023 season, only trailing Clemson (133-53). The 115 victories are the most in a three-year span the program has seen since 1980-82. WKU has improved its win total every season under Rardin. The 2025 campaign will go down as arguably the greatest season in Hilltopper Baseball history, as the team finished the season with a 46-14 (18-9 CUSA) record - the second-most wins in a season in program history and the most in 45 years. WKU won its first conference tournament title in 17 years and first Conference USA Championship in program history. The Hilltoppers earned an NCAA Regional berth as CUSA's automatic qualifier, returning to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history and first time in 16 years. Following the completion of the regular season, Rardin was named CUSA's Keith LeClair Coach of the Year. He became the seventh Conference Coach of the Year in program history, the first CUSA Coach of the Year in program history and the first in 16 years. WKU got off to a fast start in 2025, winnin

Fitzgerald joins the WKU Athletics staff as an assistant athletic trainer for 2026, with a primary focus in baseball. Prior to joining the Hilltoppers in 2026, Fitzgerald served as head athletic trainer for the Charleston Dirty Birds (WV) professional baseball team from 2024-2025, and as an assistant athletic trainer for Salisbury University (MD) from 2023-2024. Fitzgerald graduated in May of 2021 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science from Salisbury (MD) University, and went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Athletic Training from Towson (MD) University in May of 2023.

Brett Neffendorf was hired as an Assistant Coach for the WKU Baseball program on June 24, 2025. In his role, Neffendorf oversees the pitching staff. Neffendo...

Derek Francis enters his second season at WKU after joining the staff as the Director of Operations prior to the 2024 season. Along with overseeing team oper...

Duane Hall is in his 16th year as WKU’s Director of Strength and Conditioning and his 10th season as the head men's basketball strength and conditioning coach. Hall has been a member of WKU’s strength and conditioning staff for 31 years, and during his time on The Hill he has worked with every sport at one time or another. Hall currently oversees a staff of strength and conditioning coaches that works with WKU’s 16 varsity sports. Hall has helped coach 31 WKU teams that have won conference championships, most recently the 2025 baseball team that took home the Conference USA Tournament title. Hall earned his degree in physical education from WKU in 1996, and he finished his master’s degree at WKU in 2006. Hall is certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). Hall is married to former Lady Topper track and field standout Laura Wesseling, and the couple has three sons, Darian, Dawson and Daxton. His son Dawson is a senior on the WKU Baseball team.

Jared Gates enters his first season at Western Kentucky as the Director of Player Development. In addition to his operational duties, Gates works directly with the position players, assisting with both hitting and defensive development. Gates brings four years of experience training and coaching high school level athletes and helping many of those athletes achieve their dream of playing collegiate baseball. Before working in the high school travel ball landscape, he served as a volunteer assistant at the University of Central Arkansas during the 2019-20 season. He began his coaching career as a student assistant at the University of Arkansas in spring 2019. A standout player on the diamond, Gates competed at the highest levels of collegiate baseball. He began his career at Iowa Western Community College, where he played two seasons under head coach Marc Rardin. An All-American selection his sophomore year, he helped lead the Reivers to two NJCAA World Series appearances. He then transferred to the University of Arkansas, where he played in the Men's College World Series during his senior season. Following his collegiate career, Gates signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles organization and played a short stint in Rookie Ball. Gates earned his degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Arkansas. He is a native of Wichita, Kansas.

Rob Fournier enters his third season at WKU after joining the staff as an assistant coach in June of 2022. As the head of the recruiting efforts for the Hilltoppers, Fournier's 2024 recruiting class ranked among the top six of team's bringing in JUCO prospects. Fournier's leadership on the offensive side lead to improvements in 18 categories at the plate for WKU in 2023. Five players notched batting averages over .300 while every single player totaled an on-base percentage over .300. Before coming to WKU, Fournier spent 26 seasons as the head coach at Wabash Valley College. During that time, he accumulated 1,109 career wins while his Warrior teams won 16 Great Rivers Athletic Conference (GRAC) Championships. In his first year at the helm, he helped turn around a 12-win team to a 37-win mark in the 1997 season. The program has since rattled off 26 consecutive winning seasons, recording at least 30 wins in each campaign while collecting 17 total 40-plus-win seasons. They totaled 50 or more wins in eight seasons and in his last three years as head coach, his team had the best record in the country, going a combined 129-16 (.890). Fournier’s teams made two NJCAA D1 World Series appearances, earning a third-place finish in 2017 and fourth-place finish this past season in 2022. In 2020, WVC earned the NJCAA No. 1 ranking. For his success at the helm, Fournier has won 14 GRAC Coach of the Year awards and was a 2022 inductee into the NJCAA Hall of Fame. Among Fournier's accolades, th

Scott York holds a master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Murray State University and is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) program at Western Kentucky University. York has 5 years of experience delivering outpatient therapy to various ages and clinical presentations. He has a special interest in sport psychology and working with student-athletes to help them achieve their goals. York focuses on mental health difficulties including, but not limited to, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, eating disorders, body image, substance use, etc. Additionally, York also helps student athletes manage performance, sport-related difficulties, and academic concerns, including administration of psychological assessments.

Tanner Siewert joined the WKU staff in 2009 as a graduate assistant. Siewert now serves as the Assistant Director of the Student Athlete Success Center (SASC...

Tyler Herbst enters his third season at WKU and second as an Assistant Coach after spending the 2023 season as the Director of Operations. In his role, Herbst serves as an offensive assistant and first base coach. Before coming to WKU, Herbst spent eight seasons with Head Coach Marc Rardin at Iowa Western Community College as his Recruiting Coordinator. In 2019, Herbst was honored as the ABCA/Baseball America NJCAA Division I Assistant Coach of the Year. In addition, the Reivers won seven consecutive ICCAC Regular Season Conference Championships and had four NJCAA World Series appearances, including the runner-up in 2019. Overall, the Reivers held a record of 375-84 (.817) while Herbst was on staff and had 14 NJCAA All-Americans, two, NJCAA Division I Rawlings Gold Glove Award Winners, one NJCAA Pitcher of the Year, 109 players sign to Division I programs, and the three highest draft picks to come out of IWCC - Dan Tillo (2017 - third round, Kansas City Royals), Keaton Winn (2018 - fifth round, San Francisco Giants), and Sean Chandler (2018 - sixth round, Texas Rangers). Offensively, the Reivers ranked top 10 in the NJCAA for team batting average four times under Herbst (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019). Prior to IWCC, Herbst served as the Recruiting Coordinator/Pitching Coach at Indiana State University. In five seasons, the Sycamores saw the program longest string of consecutive winning seasons in 15 years. During his time on the bench at ISU, the program reached new heights, winnin