STANFORD, Calif. – Having recently completed his sixth season as Stanford's pitching coach, culminating in a third consecutive trip to the College World Series, Kathy Wolff Assistant Baseball Coach Thomas Eager has been named pitching coach for the USA Collegiate National Team.
The Collegiate National Team will be led in 2023 by Cal Poly's Larry Lee, who will make his USA Baseball managerial debut this summer and second appearance overall in the red, white, and blue. He was an assistant coach for the 2017 Collegiate National Team that went 15-5 with friendship series victories over Chinese Taipei, Cuba, and Japan. Lee is the winningest head coach in Big West Conference history and, following the 2023 season, has amassed 635 wins with Cal Poly and 1,095 overall for his career.
Eager pitched two seasons under Lee at Cal Poly in 2006 and 2007, finishing the 2007 campaign with an 11-3 ledger, notching a 3.43 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 126 innings of work on his way to first-team All-Big West Conference accolades. Eager would later return to his alma mater to serve on Lee's staff, including three seasons as Cal Poly's pitching coach.
Joining Eager to complete the coaching staff are three Division I head coaches: Reggie Christiansen (Sacramento State), Andy Stankiewicz (USC), and José Vázquez (Alabama State), and East Carolina student manager Brady Austin as bullpen coach.
This summer will mark the Team USA coaching debuts for four of the five assistants on the staff. Stankiewicz is the only assistant who owns coaching experience with Team USA, as he has been the 18U National Team Manager on two separate occasions and served as an assistant for the Collegiate National Team in 2012. Stankiewicz was named USA Baseball's Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year in 2014 after leading the 18U National Team to a gold medal at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier. Austin has served on the Collegiate National Team Training Camp staff, while 2023 will be the first involvement with USA Baseball for Christiansen, Eager, and Vázquez.
Including Lee, the four head coaches on the 2023 coaching staff have amassed 1,677 wins at the Division I level, reaching nine NCAA Tournaments. The staff has combined to win seven regular season conference championships and six conference tournament titles. In addition, they have combined for nine conference Coach of the Year awards.
The full coaching staff for the 2023 Collegiate National Team is as follows:
- Manager: Larry Lee (Cal Poly)
- Bench Coach: Reggie Christiansen (Sacramento State)
- Pitching Coach: Thomas Eager (Stanford)
- First Base Coach: José Vázquez (Alabama State)
- Third Base Coach: Andy Stankiewicz (USC)
- Bullpen Coach: Brady Austin (East Carolina)
The Collegiate National Team will kick off its schedule with its annual Stars vs. Stripes series on June 25-28 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The series is a product of the Collegiate National Team Training Camp that features 56 of the premier non-draft-eligible collegiate players in the country, in which the final 26-man roster will be chosen from to compete in five-game series against Chinese Taipei and Japan.
The 20th USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series is set for June 30-July 4, with games at the National Training Complex, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, Atrium Health Ballpark in Kannapolis, and Segra Stadium in Fayetteville.
The National Training Complex will host the opening three games of the 44th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series July 7-9, while games four and five of the series will be played at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Ballpark in Charleston, South Carolina on July 11 and 12.
Team USA leads the series with Japan 24-19 (Overall: 133-107-2), including a 21-1 (Overall: 87-33-2) series record in the United States.
The full 2023 Collegiate National Team schedule is as follows:
2023 Team USA Stars vs. Stripes Series
June 25; Stripes vs. Stars; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 3 p.m. ET
June 26; Stars vs. Stripes; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 6 p.m. ET
June 27; Stripes vs. Stars; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 7 p.m. ET
June 28; Stars vs. Stripes; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 6 p.m. ET
20th USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series
June 30; Chinese Taipei vs. USA; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 5 p.m. ET
July 1; USA vs. Chinese Taipei; Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham, N.C.); 6:35 p.m. ET
July 2; Chinese Taipei vs. USA; Atrium Health Ballpark (Kannapolis, N.C.); 6 p.m. ET
July 3; USA vs. Chinese Taipei; Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham, N.C.); 6:35 p.m. ET
July 4; Chinese Taipei vs. USA; Segra Stadium (Fayetteville, N.C.); 6 p.m. ET
44th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series
July 7; Japan vs. USA; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 6 p.m. ET
July 8; USA vs. Japan; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 6 p.m. ET
July 9; Japan vs. USA; National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.); 5 p.m. ET
July 11; USA vs. Japan; Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Ballpark (Charleston, S.C.); 6:30 p.m. ET
July 12; Japan vs. USA; Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Ballpark (Charleston, S.C.); 6:30 p.m. ET