Frostburg State University Men's Baseball

Anthony Williams - 6 Seasons at FSU Notes 2025 36-17 Overall (18-10 MEC) Second Place MEC North Division | MEC Tournament Appearance 2024 37-16 Overall (24-4 MEC) NCAA Regional Appearance | MEC North Division Champions | MEC Coach of the Year 2023 33-20 Overall (22-8 MEC) MEC North Division Champions | MEC Championship Game Appearance 2022 33-17 Overall (22-10 MEC) MEC North Division Champions | Program's First MEC Tournament Appearance and Victory 2021 14-25 Overall (12-19 MEC) Program's First Full Season at Division II Level 2020 4-9 Overall Season Shortened due to Covid-19 Anthony Williams is entering his seventh season as the head coach of the Frostburg State baseball team during the 2025-26 athletic year. 2025 marked Frostburg's fourth consecutive season eclipsing the 30-win mark, the longest streak in program history. The Bobcats ended the year 36-17 with an 18-10 mark in MEC play, earning the two seed in the MEC North Division and coming within one game of another MEC Championship Game appearance. Seven players received All-MEC honors, as starting pitcher Pat Bauer was named the conference's Pitcher of the Year, as he and reliever Nate Vermillion were each named D2 Baseball All-Americans. Outfielders Jake Holler and Jackson Schalick, as well as third baseman Mikey Guy all received All-Region nods, with the latter also being named to the Rawlings/ABCA All-Region Defensive Team.  Williams enjoyed his most successful season in 2024, leading the team to its first-ever Division II Atlantic Regional appearance. In finishing with a 37-16 record, including a 24-4 mark in MEC play, he was named MEC Coach of the Year, as the team secured another North Division title with the most wins since 2015. Ethan Kiple received D2CCA and ABCA/Rawlings All-American honors, as well as being named Atlantic Region Player of the Year for both organizations and the MEC Player of the Year. Randy Steen, Mikey Guy, and Pat Bauer all were named All-Region by various organizations, while Ryan Bouma was the MEC Freshman of the Year, as each were also part of seven total All-MEC selections.  2023 saw the program further establish itself towards the top of the MEC, cruising to a North Division title with a 33-20 overall record, including a 22-8 mark in the conference. The team reached the Mountain East Conference Tournament Championship game, falling in a 12-8 decision to South Division champion Charleston.  Six players earned All-MEC honors, with a stunning five on the First Team and one player on the Second Team. Four players also received All-Region honors in Ethan Kiple, Randy Steen, Danny Estrada, and Jacob Stretch. During the season, Kiple had one of the best individual seasons at the plate and on the mound, hitting a program-record 19 home runs while also serving as the team's closer to the tune of a 0.34 ERA with 39 K's in 26.2 innings of work, recording five saves.  Williams lead FSU to a 33-17 record in the 2022 season, which set numerous program marks such as the first ever appearance at the MEC Tournament, their first ever MEC North Division Title, the first win over a ranked Division II opponent, and the second highest win total since 2015 when the Bobcats advanced to the Division III World Series.  Williams is the 13th head coach in the 83–year history of the Bobcat baseball program, and was part of the FSU coaching staff during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.   From 2016-2019, Williams served as the head coach at Division II Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Williams led the Golden Eagles to 19 wins in 2019, the second-highest win total in the school’s history and the best Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) finish in 14 years. Under his tutelage, two players earned All-PSAC honors in the 2019 season.   In total, Williams collected 53 wins at Clarion. Off the field, he also improved the team GPA from 2.7 in his first year to 3.15. He increased donor and alumni engagements, significantly improved the baseball scholarship budget and annually fundraised over $20,000.   Prior to his stint at Clarion, Williams was the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. During his five-year tenure, he led the Bobcats to their first winning season in program history in 2012, and set new wins records in the 2014 and 2015 seasons as well. Williams coached the team to five-consecutive conference tournament appearances, including a trip to the AMCC championship game in 2014. Williams left Pitt-Greensburg as the winningest coach in the program’s history, and earned his 100th career win on April 16th, 2016.   Williams also has experience as the manager of the Fayetteville SwampDogs of the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer league that features some of the top college players from around the country. He was at the helm of the SwampDogs in 2016, a year where he coached two NCAA Division I National Champion players and three MLB draft picks.   From 2011-2015, he was also part of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Video Advance Scouting Department for five seasons, helping prepare scouting reports and video for the club.   Williams served as the assistant baseball coach at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2010-11. While with UMBC, he was the infield and first base coach and specialized in speed training, base running and infield play.   During his two-year stint with Frostburg State in 2009-10, The Bobcats finished the two seasons with a combined 57-29 record, including a 2010 AMCC Regular Season Championship after posting 32 wins. While a graduate assistant at FSU, served as the Bobcats’ recruiting coordinator as well as the team’s hitting and infield coach.   A native of Pasadena, Maryland, Williams earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Management from Slippery Rock, where he was also a varsity baseball player. He earned his Master of Business Administration from FSU in 2010.

A Baltimore, MD native and a six-year professional baseball player, Michael Austin joined the Frostburg Baseball staff as the Pitching Coach in 2023 prior to the 2024 season, after spending the previous summer as the manager of the Staunton Braves in the Valley League. In his first year as the Bobcats’ pitching coach in 2024, Austin helped lead Frostburg to historic levels in their Division II era, helping the team to their best-ever NCAA DII ranking in ERA, walks to strikeout ratio, strikeouts per nine innings, and WHIP, all which were top-20 in the nation. The squad was built around outstanding pitching, finishing 12th in ERA with a team-average of 4.15.  Austin led RHP Patrick Bauer to All-Region honors, where Bauer led the team with an ERA of 2.65, a team-high 54 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.09. In his first season, FSU reached their first ever NCAA DII Tournament, appearing as the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic Region. Austin started his college career at Bethune Cookman University, where he won a 2014 MEAC Title and pitched in his first NCAA regional. In 2016, he transferred to UMBC where he earned All-Conference honors and led the team to their first-ever American East Championship and NCAA Tournament in 20 years. After college, Austin was signed by the Kansas City Royals and started his professional career where he logged over 300 strikeouts, threw a no-hitter in 2021, and won the Frontier League Championship in 2022. Off the field, Austin has helped implement the academic monitoring program at Frostburg, helping the Baseball team reach an overall GPA of 3.16.  Austin has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from UMBC.  

Brian Wirth joined the Bobcat coaching staff as the team’s hitting coach in October of 2023.  In addition to running the offense, his responsibilities include overseeing the infield positional group and assisting with recruiting. Frostburg achieved a record of 36-17 in 2025, falling one win short of back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances.  Wirth helped coach several players that received postseason awards, including First Team NCBWA and D2CCA First Team All-Region honoree Jake Holler, and First Team All-MEC selections Mikey Guy and Jackson Schalick, with the former being named ABCA/Rawlings First Team All-Region and the latter receiving a Second Team D2CCA All-Region nod.  In 2024, FSU showed a record of 37-16, the highest win count since transitioning to Division II prior to the 2020 season. The Bobcats reached as high as No. 5 in the Atlantic Region rankings, also the highest since transitioning to DII, capturing their first-ever berth in the NCAA DII Tournament. Under MEC Coach of the Year Anthony Williams, Wirth helped guide six players to postseason awards including MEC Freshman of the Year Ryan Bouma, and MEC Player of the Year Ethan Kiple, who was also named ABCA/Rawlings Region Position Player of the Year as well. Wirth helped improve the offensive performance across key metrics compared to the previous year’s games. From one year to the next, Wirth helped account for a team batting average increase from .296 to .324, alongside boosts in hits, runs, and RBI, as well as increasing on base percentage from .386% to .431% The improvement was the result of a focused approach to prep work, emphasizing consistency in positioning, balance, weight transfer, and timing, as his goal was to reduce swing and miss on fastballs in the zone and decrease chase rate on off-speed pitches, which helped lead to an improved K to BB/HBP ratio (-117 in 2023, -27 in 2024, +57 in 2025).  In 2022, Wirth has served as the Youth Program Director with the Mid-Atlantic Orioles showcase organization in Richmond, VA, where he played a pivotal role in developing and mentoring the next generation of college and professional baseball players. Additionally, Wirth held the position of Assistant Coach with the Charlottesville Tom Sox during the 2023 Valley League Summer Season. Prior to his tenure with the Mid-Atlantic Orioles, Wirth spent three seasons as an assistant coach at St. John’s University, specializing in training the team’s infielders and working on hitting and mental performance. Before joining St. John's, Wirth served as the Director of Hitting at Prime Performance Athlete Training in Gaithersburg, MD. His college coaching journey began at the junior college level, where he took two assistant coaching stints, serving as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Fayetteville Tech Community College in North Carolina, after spending two years as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, VA. Wirth's coaching career started in high school, where he coached in both Alaska and Virginia. At his alma mater, Woodbridge High School, Wirth served as the pitching coach and played a key role in leading the team to the state playoffs for the first time since 2010.  During the 2010 season and his senior year, Wirth contributed to the team's 27-1 record and state runner-up finish. Wirth himself had a four-season collegiate career, splitting time between Frederick Community College and Limestone University. He graduated from Limestone in 2016 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management, later earning his Master’s Degree in Sport Administration from Arkansas State. Following his college career, Wirth played in the Puerto Rican Instructional Winter League in 2016 and spent the spring and summer of 2017 in the independent Empire League with the Sullivan Explorers. Wirth also runs a Youth Baseball Development Program in the Frostburg area.