Rich Pasquale
Head Coach
Second Year
(Francis Marion, 1991)

    When Rich Pasquale took over as Youngstown State's head baseball coach in October 2007, he brought a great sense of energy and an unmatched passion for the game.
    Pasquale came to YSU with three primary goals: attract the best players from the Youngstown area, annually finish toward the top of the Horizon League and become a nationally-respected program.
    The Penguins made significant progress toward reaching those goals in Pasquale's first season, and he was recognized by his peers as the Horizon League Co-Coach of the Year.
    Pasquale led YSU to a third-place finish in the Horizon League standings and a four-win improvement in league games despite playing three fewer contests. YSU defeated six teams that finished with at least 30 wins - Cincinnati (39), Kent State (36), West Virginia (35), UIC (35), Bowling Green (32) and Wright State (30), and it dropped one-run contests to Georgia Tech and Penn State.
    Pasquale also helped the Penguins collect an impressive list of individual accomplishments. Aaron Swenson was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year as a sophomore after going 6-3 and leading the league in strikeouts and innings pitched. Joe Iacobucci, Eric Marzec and Sean Lucas earned second-team all-league honors, and Iacobucci was recognized nationally as an honorable mention pick on the All-Ping! Freshman team. Lucas set career-highs in every offensive category and batted 36 points better than he did as a junior. Marzec batted an outstanding 84 points higher than he did in 2007, and Josh Page was named First-Team Academic All-District after being a second-team selection the previous two years. Erich Diedrich retired as YSU's school-record holder in career home runs, RBIs and total bases. His record-breaking homer came on his final swing in the Horizon League Tournament.
    As a squad, six starters hit better than .300 and the pitching staff lowered its ERA by 0.63 from the previous season.
    Pasquale has also been able to attract top-level talent in his first recruiting class. Six high school standouts and four junior college stars have agreed to invest their academic and baseball futures at YSU.
    Shorty after taking the helm, Pasquale worked quickly to make his mark on the program by ordering two new sets of uniforms and a vast selection of apparel, and he helped increase community connections and relations.
    Pasquale, the seventh coach in YSU history, had most recently spent a season as the top assistant coach at Division II Slippery Rock. Prior to that he led a drastic turnaround at Division III La Roche College in Pittsburgh, Pa., and he was an assistant for three seasons at the University of Pittsburgh.
    At Slippery Rock, Pasquale helped veteran head coach Jeff Messer lead The Rock to a 35-17 record. A coach recognized for his hitting and fielding instruction, Pasquale helped SRU to a .322 batting average. Four players hit over .360, including Third-Team All-America selection Matt Adams and Honorable Mention All-America pick M.J. Parsons.
    At La Roche, Pasquale led a complete rebirth for a Redhawks team that had won just 24 games in the five years prior to his arrival. In four years (2003-06) he led the program to 84 wins and three straight berths in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference playoffs. He was named the AMCC Coach of the Year in his second season, and his teams set school records for conference wins and overall wins.
    Pasquale also served as the sports information director and a physical education instructor at La Roche.
    During his first year at Pittsburgh in 2000, the Panthers went 31-24 and had two players drafted in the first 20 rounds. In his final year in 2002, two more players were drafted in the first 16 rounds, and the Panthers finished with a record of 36-16-1 and won what was then a school-record 14 Big East games.
    Pasquale got his coaching start at Penn State Beaver in 1995 and stayed there until 1999. As an infield and hitting coach, PSU Beaver appeared in the NJCAA Division III World Series in 1997 and 1999, and the team was the Region 20 Champions four times in his five years. Pasquale served as the acting athletic director, director of intramural and recreation sports and facilities coordinator at PSU Beaver.
    Pasquale has also worked camps as an infield and hitting instructor at Clemson and Slippery Rock.
    Pasquale has vast experience as an administrator. He was an Assistant to the Athletic Director and Compliance Officer at Slippery Rock, and he was the Facilities Manager of Jack Critchfield Park for the Slippery Rock Sliders of the Frontier League.
    Pasquale has also served as a scout for the Cleveland Indians since November 2005.
    After playing at PSU Beaver for two seasons, Pasquale had a heralded playing career at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C. As a senior he batted .322 with 52 runs scored in 47 games to earn NAIA Honorable Mention All-America honors. He was also a unanimous selection to the NAIA All-District and an All-Area honoree covering seven states as a senior.
    Pasquale earned a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology from Francis Marion in 1991 and his master's in health and physical education from Madison University in 2006.
    Pasquale and his wife, Mindy, have three children – 8-year-old Dominic, 6-year-old Maura and 2-year-old Kara. He is also the nephew of former Cleveland Indians first baseman Tito Francona and cousin of Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona.