Head Coach Matt Riser
Baseball Head Coach Matt Riser has recently signed a three-year contract extending his term to 2020.
“I feel really excited,” said Riser. “First of all, I’m thankful to our administration for their commitment and believing in our program. Obviously, the success as the years have gone deeper and deeper and for them to recognize that with the offer of extension, we’re very thankful that they are committed to this plan, that they want to see the program grow further.”
Director of Athletics Jay Artigues praised Riser for building the program on both baseball and academic fronts.
“Matt has done a tremendous job since he’s been head coach here,” said Artigues. “He assisted here for several years. I had the pleasure of coaching Matt when I was coaching junior college. So, I know the kind of person he is. He is the kind of guy you want your son to play for because he has the best interest for student-athletes. Our mission statement is committed to excellence in the classroom, the community and the competition, and he does such a tremendous job fulfilling that mission statement.”
The team achieved over a 3.3 GPA and led the conference in community service hours last season. Under Riser, the team rose in the D1 Baseball ranking and have been a regular in NCAA regionals.
“Right now, the program’s at an all time high, and the biggest thing we talk about is not being content with where we are,” said Riser. “We’ve come a long way, and we’ve put a lot of hard work and blood, sweat and tears to the program to get to where we are now. Probably more motivated now than ever to continue to raise the bar for our program. As the momentum builds, it not only helps you from a career standpoint but from a facility standpoint, from a staff standpoint. Just something positive right now going into right direction. It motivates me to work harder.”
However, Riser and the team are not content with their achievements so far. He also warned about the team being complacent with their achievements.
“You know, we have to take it to another level, and I feel like our assistant coaches are doing a fantastic job of identifying the right recruits to take on the programs that are on level of supers and hopefully Omaha,” said Riser. “I think the biggest thing is being committed to this. Again, a player can be complacent with what we’ve accomplished. Each year, another senior class comes in, another freshman class comes in, they raise the bar. So, really expect this crew to do the same thing. So, when the three years are up, I expect to look back and our program to be in another state and continue to climb the rankings.”
Riser told about his plans this off season.
“We’re recruiting extremely hard right now,” said Riser. “We’re big on finding the right guys that fit a certain mold but also look big on developing our guys. Get guys like Mac Sceroler, Jameson Fisher, all these guys who come in undrafted in our programs, they bought into it, commit to it and we end up molding their tools, developing their chance to where they get a chance to a professional career and hopefully one day a big league career.”
Artigues gave his prediction of how the next three years will be like under Riser’s guidance.
“I think you’re gonna keep seeing the program grow under Matt’s direction,” said Artigues. “He has a tremendous staff. Every year, he’s done a great job of taking it to another level. So, I’m really excited to see where it goes.”
