Lander University Men's Baseball

Nicholas Popp was named the Assistant Head Baseball Coach in the summer of 2023. The 2025 season was a historic one as the Bearcats were Co-Regular Season Champions and Conference Tournament Champions with 43 wins. The team also punched its ticket to the Southeast Regionals for the first time since 2016. Popp also mentored an All- American in Grant Sherrod and 4 All-PBC selections along with the conference tournament MVP in Connor Droze. The team batting average went up 22 points up to a .308 average. The offensive statistics were the best since the 2014 campaign in these categories: Double, OBP, and free bases (BB+HBP’s). The defense was also ranked 4th in the nation in fielding percentage and that mark was tops in the nation on a natural surface. In his first season with the Bearcats was a historic one that saw the 2024 squad appear in the National and Regional rankings and crowned the 2024 Peach Belt Regular Season Champions. The 2024 Bearcats finished 4th in the Nation in fielding percentage and offensively they were top 15 in the nation in walks, top 25 in HBP’s and SB’s. Along with those stats the offense also was 6th in the region in runs scored per game. The offense saw improvements in a number of categories as well from 2023 to 2024- OPS, R, H, 2B, HR, Total Bases, SLG, BB, HBP, OBP and SB’s. Coach Popp and Coach Buckley did a great job of building a system that produces great results. Coach Popp has tutored a PBC Player of the Year (Ethan Wilder) and 3 All Conference position players. Popp comes from Belmont Abbey where he's been an assistant since 2014. With Popp on staff, the Crusaders made the 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2023 NCAA Regionals. Popp has played for and coached under a pair of former Bearcats as well. As an undergrad, Popp played for former Lander Head Coach and Hall of Famer Kermit Smith while at Belmont Abbey. Popp recently coached under Chis Anderson, who was an assistant with Smith during his time in Greenwood. Popp helped guide Belmont Abbey to a 277-165-1 record since arriving in 2014. The 2023 season saw the Crusaders win 41 games and advance to the NCAA Southeast Super Regional. At Belmont Abbey, Popp specialized in offensive and defensive player development along with acting as the recruiting coordinator. The 2023 season saw the Crusaders hit .305 as a team with four players hitting above .330. Popp also served as the Head JV Baseball Coach. Along with playing for Belmont Abbey, Popp also played for Campbell University and Catonsville CC along with playing professionally for the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League. Popp resides in Greenwood, SC with his wife Kristyn. They have two children: Weston(6) and Kinsey(2

Currently an assistant coach at Lander University, working with the infielders and hitting. Played four years at Florida Atlantic University as an infielder. Bachelors degree in Management Information Systems, heading back to get my MBA this fall.

Alex Moore returned to Greenwood as the pitching Coach in 2022. Since coming back to campus the Bearcats win total each season has increased. In 2025 the pitching staff had another 2 pitchers earn all-conference nods and also had the first two draft selections in his young coaching career. These selections were also the first in program history since Ryan Troutman and himself were drafted in 2019. The pitching staff also were ranked top 20 in the nation in hits per nine innings and led the PBC in wins, strikeouts and opposing batting average. In 2024 his pitching staff led the PBC in (in conference) ERA and OBA. They also were ranked in the top 50 in the Nation in multiple statistical categories. He has had a pitcher throw a conference no-hitter in 2024 (Anson Merrick). Coach Moore has tutored 5 different All-Conference pitchers. The Sarasota, Fla., native pitched for the Bearcats between 2018 and 2019 after transferring from Eckerd College. He threw 125.1 innings for the Blue and Gold while retiring 149 batters. Moore was drafted in the 2019 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs and played for the Colorado Rockies farm teams as well. He pitched up to AA. Most recently threw for the Hartford Yard Goats and Spokane Indians. Moore became the ninth Bearcats to be drafted in program history