Jay Snyder announced as Newberry College Baseball Head Coach

NEWBERRY – Newberry College Athletics announced that associate head coach Jay Snyder has been promoted to head coach of the Wolves baseball program.

Snyder, who joined the Newberry baseball program in 2008, was promoted to associate head coach in 2014.

A fixture as the team’s third base coach, Snyder takes over for Russell Triplett who guided the Wolves to 418 victories, two South Atlantic Conference titles and two appearances in the NCAA Tournament, hosting the regional both times.

“Jay Snyder is absolutely the right person to continue the legacy of excellence of Newberry College baseball both on and off the field,” said Newberry College Director of Athletics Sean Johnson. “Jay and Samantha are an integral part of our Wolves family and committed to the success of our student-athletes.”

“I’m extremely honored and blessed to be named the next head coach of the Wolves program,” said Snyder. “I would like to thank our President Dr. Scherrens and Athletic Director Sean Johnson for trusting me to take over the reins of such a great program. The last 24 hours have been very emotional for my family and I with the amount of support shown from players past and present, along with our campus and community. This support is the true definition of what makes Newberry College so special and that’s “The People.” I look forward to continuing the tradition of excellence that established the Newberry Wolves baseball program. Go Wolves!”

During the past 16 seasons, Snyder has helped the Wolves achieve consistent success on the field and in the classroom, winning 460 games and leading all South Atlantic Conference baseball programs in team grade point average each of the last 10 years.

This season the Wolves rallied from a tough 4-14 start to win 22 of the team’s final 36 games including 17 of the final 24 conference games to finish in a tie for third in the South Atlantic Conference standings. The team advanced to the championship game of the SAC opening round tournament.

Center fielder Donovan Ford earned All-America honors, pitchers Matias Marchesini and Hunter French joined Ford on the all-conference team and five student-athletes were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team.

The Wolves have posted winning seasons in 11 of the last 12 campaigns, including a streak of six consecutive years with a winning record in league play, posting a combined 103-35 in SAC contests during that span. Newberry has posted at least 30 victories in seven of the last 11 seasons including a pair of school record breaking 40-win campaigns.

Newberry won the South Atlantic Conference regular season and tournament titles in 2023 while winning a school record 43 games, posting the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament victory while hosting the NCAA Regional Tournament at Smith Road Complex. The team set school records for highest team batting average (.326), hits (632), on-base percentage (.425), RBI (413), runs scored (499), and stolen bases (172). Braylin Marine earned All-America and All-Region honors and was named SAC Player of the Year for a second consecutive season.

In 2019, the Wolves achieved a 41-16 record, which included winning streaks of 12 and 13 games, a South Atlantic Conference championship, while hosting a regional for the first time in school history. Danton Hyman and Quinton Driggers earned unanimous first team All-Region honors becoming the second and third Wolves in school history to be voted on unanimously.

The 2015 team won a school record 21 league games and finished second in the SAC standings and was part of a streak of four consecutive 30-win seasons from 2014 through 2017.

During Snyder’s 16 seasons Newberry baseball student-athletes have South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year three times, two SAC Scholar Athletes of the Year, one SAC Elite 23 award winner, one national gold glove winner, regional player of the year twice, All-America four times, 22 all-regional selections, 55 all-SAC honors, 38 SAC player or pitcher player of the week selections, 24 SAC All-Tournament picks, 20 CSC Academic All-District selections, seven CSC All-America, 20 SAC all-defense, and eight southeast region player or pitcher of the week.

Originally from Milton, Pa., Snyder began his coaching career at Keystone College where he served as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. Keystone recorded the top four batting averages in school history under Snyder, helping his hitters rank in the top-10 nationally in five offensive categories. During his four years at Keystone, the team won four straight Northeastern Athletic Conference championships. churned out 32 all-conference players, had six players sign professional contracts, four conference Players of the Year, three Pitchers of the Year, two ECAC championships and one All-American.

Snyder spent the 2008 and 2009 summers working as a hitting coach for the Danbury Westerners of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

Snyder started his playing career at Keystone College where he played two seasons and was named MVP in 2002. After receiving his associate’s degree from Keystone, he went on to LaSalle University where he would continue playing and earn his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. During his time at LaSalle, Snyder was voted as a two-year Team Captain while playing in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Snyder and his wife Samantha are the proud parents of a daughter, Rowan.