Winthrop University Men's Baseball

Riginos is entering his sixth season as head coach of the Winthrop baseball team after leading the Eagles to the 2014 Big South Conference Southern Division title. Riginos was officially introduced as the new baseball coach at Winthrop University on August 4, 2010, becoming just the third head coach in the programs history. In his first season with the program, two Winthrop players were drafted in the 2011 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft (Tyler Mizenko, Eddie Rohan), while one signed a free agent contract (Robert Lake). Mizenko was drafted in the 28th round by the San Francisco Giants and Rohan in the 50th round by the New York Mets, with Lake signing with the Mets as well. The 2013 draft included pitchers Eric Ruth and Matt Pierpont.  Ruth was taken in the 11th round by the Tampa Bay Rays while Pierpont went in the 26th round to the Colorado Rockies. Outfielder TJ Olesczuk was drafted in 2014 in the 40th round by the Baltimore Orioles. Riginos earned his first career victory as a head coach in the Eagles' 14-9 season-opening victory over the San Diego State Aztecs, who were coached by Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Prior to joinging the Eagles, Riginos (pronounced rih-JEEN-uhs) spent eight seasons on the Clemson baseball staff under head coach Jack Leggett. He spent his final three seasons with the Tigers as the associate head coach/recruiting coordinator, and was an assistant head coach from 2003-07.   We had a very strong pool of candidates for our head baseball coaching position, and in Tom Riginos we believe we have hired one of the top coaches on the collegiate level, said Winthrop athletic director Tom Hickman. Coach Riginos has had tremendous success in attracting talented players to both Stetson and Clemson, and then developing those players into championship caliber student-athletes. We believe he will continue to bring that success to Winthrop. During his time as the recruiting coordinator at Clemson, Riginos brought in consecutive top-20 recruiting classes. The 2009 class was ranked ninth by Collegiate Baseball, while the 2010 recruiting class ranked 29 th nationally by Baseball America. I just knew it was going to be the right fit, said Riginos at his introductory press conference. Rock Hill is a good area to bring up a family. With my family and my wifes family and relatives being in Florida, staying in the Southeast was important to me. Its about family, relationships and contacts, and this is the right fit. The overall program here at Winthrop, the facilities and the size of the school reminded me so much of where I got my start as a player and a coach at Stetson University. Those are my roots and Winthrop is so similar in so many ways. In his first season with the Tigers in 2003, the squad posted a .309 team batting average and also led the Atlantic Coast Conference with a .326 average in ACC regular season contests. All four starting infielders that season were named either First or Second-Team All-ACC. The next season saw Clemson continue its offensive progression hitting 73 home runs, and recording 77 stolen bases and 149 doubles. Over the next two years (2005-06) the Tigers posted four All-Americans, and finished the 2006 campaign 19 th in the country in homers-per-game, clinching the ACC Championship and a spot in the College World Series. Kris Harvey was named First Team All-American in 2005, while Taylor Harbin was a Second Team Freshman All-American member. Tyler Colvin, currently a member of the Chicago Cubs, and Andy DAlessio were both First Team All-Americans following the 2006 season. DAlessio would go on to tie the school-record for home runs in a career with 59 in 2007. Clemson would go 31-27-1 in 2008 and not make the NCAA Tournament, but Riginos developed future first-round draft pick Kyle Parker into a First Team All-ACC member during his freshman campaign. The Tigers also posted 62 homers in that season, despite starting eight underclassmen in the lineup. The 2009 and 2010 seasons saw Clemson make its way back to the NCAA Tournament. In 2009, the Tigers made it to the Tempe, AZ Super Regional and finished with a 44-22 record. Jeff Schaus earned First Team All-ACC honors, while Ben Paulsen led the squad with a .367 average and 13 home runs to go along with 61 RBI. Clemson returned to the College World Series in 2010 for the first time since the 2006 season after finishing with a 45-25 overall record and 18-12 in the conference en route to the ACC Atlantic Division Championship. The team hit a total of 93 homers in 2010, including 20 by Parker, and Schaus had a team-high 87 RBI. Brad Miller led the Tigers with a .357 batting average. Before heading to Clemson, Riginos spent nine seasons (1994-02) with head coach Pete Dunn as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Stetson University. He recruited eight classes for the Hatters program that garnered national recognition. Riginos also recruited six All-Americans and 10 Freshman All-Americans during his time at Stetson. He coached four of the five top hitting teams in Hatter program history, which included the 2001 squad that posted a .324 team batting average and 78 long balls. The team also finished the season ranked 24 th nationally in batting average, 12 th in slugging percentage and 19 th in homers per-game. Riginos tutored five All-Americans and five of the best hitters in Stetson history including Chris Westervelt, Kevin Nicholson, Frank Corr and Sammy Serrano. He began his collegiate coaching career as the top assistant and graduate assistant coach for two seasons at Eastern Kentucky under head coach Jim Ward. Riginos was in charge of the hitters and outfielders for the Colonels, and helped coach the team to a second-place league finish during the 1992 season. I have been with three head coaches who have probably more than 3,200 wins, said Riginos.There are probably not too many assistant coaches that have been under coaches like that. That right there gives me the experience to build the Winthrop program. The one thing that I will promise is that our guys will play hard, they will be competitive and they will represent Winthrop University in a first-class manner. I can guarantee you that. As a player, Riginos was a four-year letter winner for the Hatters from 1987-90. He played under Dunn and helped Stetson to three NCAA Regionals and three conference titles. Riginos played in 225 career contests and hit .279, while finishing as one of the top base-stealers in program history with 61. He was also named team captain during the 1990 season. He earned his bachelors degree in Sports Administration from Stetson in 1990, and later earned a masters degree in Physical Education/Sports Administration from Eastern Kentucky in 1993. A native of Clearwater, FL, Riginos is married to the former Shaileen Kelley. The couple has twin girls, Alexandra and Grace (15), and a son, Chatham (6). Tom also has a son, Ben (28) who plays professionally with the Colorado Rockies.

Mike McGuire was hired as the head baseball coach on June 14, 2024, becoming the program's 4th head coach. McGuire spent the last five seasons at USC Upstate where he guided the Spartans to 159 victories. Over the last four seasons the Spartans posted an average of 36.5 wins per season, winning 35 or more games each year. The first season for McGuire was 2020 as Upstate posted a 13-5 mark before the remainder of the spring season was canceled for the COVID-19 Pandemic. This past season the Spartans posted 36 victories and advanced to the Big South Tournament Championship game for a second straight season. Upstate finished 16-8 in the conference, just two games behind league-leading Presbyterian College. In his four seasons of conference play the Spartans posted a record of 72-32-1. Upstate finished second in the league standings in 2021, 2022, 2023 and third in 2024. In 2021 the Spartans tied Campbell for the most league wins (28). His 72 league wins rank 15th in Big South history and is ranked 17th all-time in total wins (159). Under McGuire’s direction, Upstate advanced to the program's first-ever Big South Tournament Championship Game—the first conference championship game appearance for the program—in 2023. The Spartans also captured a program-record 38 victories in 2023 and followed that with 36 in 2024. The 2023-24 seasons are the winningest two-year stretch in program history with 74 wins. The 38 wins in 2023 also set a program record for winningest three-year stretch with 110 victories.   During his 12 seasons as a Division I head coach, McGuire’s teams have captured 19 Power-Six victories and 13 victories over ranked opponents. At Upstate the list of Power-Six victories included Michigan State, Northwestern (twice), Clemson (three times), Georgia Tech, Boston College, Cincinnati (twice), South Carolina, and Ohio State). Four of the victories over nationally-ranked opponents came during his stint at Upstate (No. 12 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Campbell (twice) and No. 2 Clemson).   In his five seasons at USC Upstate, McGuire coached 26 Big South All-Conference honorees, including 2021 Big South Pitcher and Scholar-Athlete of the Year Jordan Marks, 2022 Big South Freshman of the Year Noah Sullivan and 2024 Freshman of the Year Vance Sheahan. The Spartans also earned 37 Big South weekly awards during McGuire’s tenure with three Spartans earning major postseason recognition (Third Team All-American; Freshman All-American; and ABCA/Rawlings Second Team All-Region [twice]).   Upstate under McGuire has also had two players selected in the Major League Baseball draft as Jordan Marks (Round 8; Pick 225) and Alex Garbrick (Round 17; Pick 505) were selected by the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies, respectively, during the 2021 Draft. Five additional Spartans have signed professional contracts from McGuire’s Upstate program with two (Jason Matthews and Noah Myers) earning contracts with MLB organizations.   Earning a reputation as a program builder, McGuire has guided four different institutions to program win totals during his career, doing so at USC Upstate (38 wins in 2023), Morehead State (40 wins in 2019), Louisburg College (52 wins in 2012), and Lander (33 wins in 2004). His teams have captured 35 or more wins in each of the past seven seasons (excluding the shortened 2020 season) and have won 35 or more games nine times.   McGuire took over the USC Upstate program following a seven-year stint as the head coach at Morehead State University in Kentucky, leading the program to a 228-187 record and two NCAA Regional appearances (2015 Louisville and 2018 Clemson Regionals). During his time with the Eagles, he coached three Freshman All-Americans, two First Team All-Americans, and Four Preseason All-Americans while having nine players selected in the MLB Draft with 13 more players signing professional contracts.   In 2019, the Eagles' pitching staff led the OVC in ERA, opponents’ batting average, and saves. The 2018 pitching staff set a program and OVC record with 570 strikeouts in a season.  On the offensive side of the ball, the Eagles ranked top-five nationally in seven different categories in 2018: batting average, slugging percentage, doubles, runs, scoring, on-base percentage, and sacrifice flies. Defensively, the 2018 team ranked fourth nationally in double plays. In 2016, the Eagles' pitching staff held the program and OVC records for strikeouts in a single season with 554. They finished fourth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings. McGuire's 2015 squad ranked top-five nationally in five different offensive categories: batting average, slugging percentage, doubles, double per game, and scoring.   Before joining Morehead State, McGuire was head coach at Louisburg College for one season (2012). He led Louisburg to a 52-9 record and a No. 1 national ranking in the NJCAA. The squad also had the longest winning streak at any level of college baseball with a 27-game win streak.   McGuire was an assistant coach at Winthrop University from 1997-2002 and again in 2006-2011. In 2001, Winthrop's baseball program set a school record with 48 wins. During his tenure, Winthrop averaged 35 wins per season.   As the head coach at Lander University from 2003-2005, the Bearcats ranked in the Top-25 all three seasons and the 2004 squad set a program record with 33 wins in a season. The 2005 team achieved the school's highest-ever national ranking (No. 7), and McGuire had a player selected in the MLB Draft which was a program first.   Overall, he has coached more than 60 players who have joined the professional ranks and 26 All-Americans.   McGuire played professionally for the Zanesville Greys, a Class A Frontier League affiliate, from 1993 to 1994. He helped the Greys win the Frontier League Championship in 1993. McGuire played collegiately at the University of South Carolina from 1992-1994 and participated in two NCAA Regionals and the University of Akron from 1990-1991.   McGuire is a graduate of both the University of South Carolina (1994) and Morehead State University (1996). He is married to the former Angela Kearns of Heyworth, Ill., and together the couple has three daughters, Courtney, Sydney, and Sarah.   Career Record (Head Coach)   School/Year Overall Record Conference Record (place) Conference NCAA Appearance NCAA Postseason Record USC Upstate 2024 36-24 16-8 (3rd) Big South 2023 38-22 21-6 (2nd) Big South 2022 35-22-1 17-6-1 (2nd) Big South 2021 37-16 28-12 (2nd) Big South 2020 13-5 no conference games played Big South (159-89-1) (72-32-1) Morehead State 2019 40-21 19-11 (T-2nd) OVC 2018 37-26 18-12 (T-3rd) OVC 2017 36-23 18-11 (2nd) OVC 2016 32-27 17-13 (T-4th) OVC 2015 38-22 20-10 (2nd) OVC 2014 29-28 16-14 (T-4th) OVC 2013 16-40 10-20 (T-8th) OVC (228-187) (118-91) Lander 2005 30-28 11-18 (10th) Peach Belt 2004 33-23 14-16 (T-8th) Peach Belt 2003 27-29 10-19 (9th) Peach Belt (90-80)  (35-53) Total (15 seasons) 477-356-1 (.573) 225-176-1

Eddie Hill has coached baseball and football for 43 years on the junior high and high school levels as well as baseball camps.  He first started his coaching career at Lower Richland High School as a varsity assistant coach. After a year, he became the head coach for three years. He then traveled to Conway High School where he coached five years as an assistant coach and head coach. He then moved to Rock Hill to coach Rock Hill High School, where he served for 26 years.      He came to Winthrop from Northwestern High School where he was the assistant coach. He worked at baseball camps at seven different universities.      Hill is a member of the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in math education. He has his master’s in education from the University of South Carolina.     Hill is married to Ginger S. Amick of Columbia. They have two children and three grandchildren.