After parting ways with former head coach Danny Hayden following nine seasons, Miami University baseball knew it needed to make a change. The RedHawks needed a spark, a new voice in the dugout, someone to help right the ship.
Enter Brian Smiley.
The RedHawks recruited the former Indiana State Associate head coach to turn the program around. When Smiley got the call, he said he knew it was the right opportunity.
“It has always been on a list of opportunities that I was really, really interested in,” Smiley said. “And whenever they contacted me, it was pretty apparent right away that this was gonna be my new home.”
After a 2022-23 season where the RedHawks went 21-35, Miami is now picked to finish seventh in the 12-team Mid-American Conference preseason rankings.
Roster Overhaul
With a coaching change comes an exodus of previous players from the program. The RedHawks responded by adding 14 new players to the current roster: eight freshmen and six transfers. One of the new faces to the program is right-handed pitcher Lukas Galdoni. The graduate student comes from Butler University, where he made 17 appearances last season.
While roughly a third of the roster is new, there are also a number of returning faces, including outfielder Zach MacDonald. The junior played in all 56 games last season. MacDonald’s decision to stay was rooted in the connection he has with the team.
“I didn’t want to enter the portal because I really do love it here,” MacDonald said. “A lot of us are really tight on the team, we have a really good bond.”
MacDonald was a solid contributor for the RedHawks last season, finishing the season with a .251 batting average, a .512 slugging percentage and a .382 on-base percentage. He also added 13 home runs and 35 RBIs.
Also returning is third baseman/outfielder Ryland Zaborowski. The redshirt junior was ranked 27th in the nation among third basemen by DIbaseball.com. Zaborowski was an offensive weapon last season, batting .293 with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs in his first season in a RedHawks uniform.
The RedHawks also added two new coaches: hitting coach Kyle Trewyn and pitching coach Larry Scully. Trewyn comes from Bradley University, and Scully comes from 2023 MAC champion Ball State.
2024 Schedule
Coach Smiley doesn’t consider this year to be a rebuilding season. Rather, he believes this season will set the RedHawks up for the future.
“Some coaches term it their year zero. I don’t look at it like that, I look at this as an opportunity for the guys that have been here to lay a strong foundation for what’s going to be moving forward,” Smiley said. “And that’s going to be an expectation of winning championships.”
Their season schedule reflects this sentiment, as they have several notable matchups this season with Indiana, Kentucky, Xavier, Ball State and Cincinnati. The RedHawks also have a game on March 19 against Galdoni’s former team, Butler.
“It’ll be weird being on the other side, but it’ll be good to go back,” Galdoni said.
The RedHawks opened their season on the road against the 25th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks the weekend of February 16. Miami was swept in the three-game series. The team then traveled to Indiana University, losing 12-6 on February 20.
Miami continues its season with a three-game series against Middle Tennessee State University starting February 23 before returning to Oxford for its home opener against Wright State on February 27.
