Bridgewater College Men's Baseball

Ben Spotts is set to lead the Bridgewater College baseball team for his seventh season in 2026. In the 2025 season, the Eagles finished the season with a 26-16-1 overall record. BC made a return to the league’s final weekend before bowing out in a pair of thrillers. The Eagles had five players who placed on the All-ODAC teams, highlighted by three first team nods. Three BC student-athletes were named all-region including Zack Chadwell and Nick Stavros who earned All-American honors. Bridgewater finished with a 17-26 record and qualified for the ODAC Tournament. The Eagles knocked off No. 4 and eventual National Champion Lynchburg in game one of the ODAC Quarterfinals for one of the club's two wins over ranked opponents on the season. Both Biesecker and Brandan Hartman earned All-ODAC nods while Hartman garnered ABCA/Rawlings and D3Baseball.com All-Region accolades. In 2022, Spotts guided the Eagles to a 26-win season, which was the most for the team since the 2016 campaign. The Eagles advanced to the ODAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and upended Washington and Lee to advance to the tournament's Final Weekend. Reid Long became just the second player in team history to be named ODAC Pitcher of the Year. Long went on to earn All-Region honors from the ABCA and D3baseball.com as well as First Team All-State laurels from VaSID. Bridgewater reached the ODAC semifinal round in 2021, beating Roanoke in the opening round and ultimately coming two runs short of the championship series. BC had one player each named to the ABCA All-Region and VaSID All-State squads. The Eagles went 11-4 in his first season as BC's manager, with Jacob Talley and Jarrett Biesecker earning All-State recognition. Prior to his coaching stint at EMU, Spotts spent four seasons as a player at Bridgewater and 14 seasons as an assistant coach for the Eagles baseball program. During his time as a Bridgewater assistant, the Eagles won five ODAC championships and made six trips to NCAA regional play. As the program's recruiting coordinator, Spotts recruited 17 All-ODAC first-team performers and three ODAC Rookie of the Year award winners.   As a player and assistant coach at Bridgewater, Spotts was part of 469 victories and eight championships. Following the 2012 season, Spotts left the Bridgewater program to take the head coaching position at Eastern Mennonite University. Spotts finished his seven-year run at Eastern Mennonite with 117 victories, the second-most coaching wins in program history. In his second season at EMU, the Royals finished with a 20-19 overall record, just the third 20-win season in program history. The Royals played .500 ball in the ODAC during the 2015 season, Spotts' third as the program's head coach. The 2015 squad finished with a 10-10 ODAC record and qualified for the conference tournament for the first time since the 2002 season. Spotts was named the 2015 ODAC Coach of the Year. In his final season at EMU, the Royals were 10-12 in ODAC play and 16-23-1 overall. Eastern Mennonite qualified for the 2019 ODAC tournament as the No. 8 seed and lost in the opening round to nationally-ranked Randolph-Macon. Spotts graduated from Bridgewater College with a degree in History and Political Science. He has a master's degree in Kinesiology/Emphasis in Athletic Administration and Coaching from James Madison University. Spotts and his wife, Angie, reside in Bridgewater with their four children: Landon, Brady, Allie and Rylan. Spotts Career Year              GP    W   L     T     Pct.        Accolades                          2013* 39 15 24 0 .385                                                                  2014* 39 20 19 0 .513 2015* 34 16 18 0 .471 ODAC Playoffs / ODAC Coach of the Year 2016* 37 16 21 0 .432 2017* 39 19 20 0 .487 2018* 39 15 24 0 .365 100th Career Victory 2019* 40 16 23 1 .413 ODAC Playoffs 2020 15 11 4 0 .733 2021 29 14 15 0 .483 ODAC Semifinals 2022 43 26 17 0 .605 ODAC Final Weekend 2023         43 17 26 0 .395 ODAC Quarterfinals 2024 41 25 16 0 .610 ODAC Quarterfinals  2025 42 26 16 1 .616 ODAC Finals Weekend Career 480 237 244 2 .493    *at Eastern Mennonite University

Following a 10-year professional career, Austin Nicely joins the Bridgewater College baseball staff ahead of the 2024 season. Nicely comes to Bridgewater after spending the last 10 years pitching professionally, most recently with the York Revolution of the Atlantic League. He claimed Pitcher of the Month following a stellar month of September in 2021 going 4-0 with five starts and struck out 18 batters across 34.1 innings. That season, Nicely sat among leaders in nearly every pitching category in the Atlantic League.   The Grottoes, Va. native was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 10th round of the 2013 MLB Amateur Draft out of high school following a stellar career at Spotswood, and spent four seasons in the organization as he compiled 131.2 innings pitched in 39 appearances in rookie league and short-A ball. Following his four years in the MiLB, Nicely signed with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League in 2018 where he helped the team to a pair of postseason appearances.   In addition, Nicely worked as a pitching consultant with Next Level Athletic Development and is currently a co-owner of The Batting Cave in Grottoes with his father Tim Nicely '91. The business houses 21 youth travel/showcase baseball and softball teams that play throughout the region, as Nicely serves as the primary hitting and pitching coordinator with players ranging from 8U to college-level student-athletes.     Nicely will serve as the pitching coach for the Eagles.  

Ryan Brewer is entering his third season as an assistant baseball coach at Bridgewater College.Bridgewater reached the ODAC semifinal round in 2021, beating Roanoke in the opening round and ultimately coming two runs short of the championship series. BC had one player each named to the ABCA All-Region and VaSID All-State squads. The Eagles went 11-4 in his first season at BC, with Jacob Talley and Jarrett Biesecker earning All-State recognition. Brewer, who assists head coach Ben Spotts with the handling of the pitching staff for the Eagles, played four seasons for Spotts at Eastern Mennonite University. During his career with the Royals, Brewer made 61 appearances on the mound and posted a 9-8 record to go along with eight career saves.

Rick Reeves is entering his third season as an assistant baseball coach at Bridgewater College.Bridgewater reached the ODAC semifinal round in 2021, beating Roanoke in the opening round and ultimately coming two runs short of the championship series. BC had one player each named to the ABCA All-Region and VaSID All-State squads. The Eagles went 11-4 in 2020 with a team batting average of .323. Jacob Talley and Jarrett Biesecker earned All-State recognition. Reeves was part of head coach Ben Spotts' staff at Eastern Mennonite for four years and before that was on the baseball staff at Fort Defiance High School.