LOUDONVILLE — For someone who’s only 25 years old, Siena interim baseball coach Joe Sheridan had a long history with the Saints before he joined the program last season.
Growing up about five minutes from the University of Central Florida, Sheridan watched his hometown Knights play Siena every spring when he was a kid. Then he pitched for UCF and made his first college appearance and earned his first college win against the Saints on back-to-back days in 2017.
“I’ve probably been to more Siena games than a lot of people in this area just from watching them at UCF every opening weekend and getting out to the park,” said Sheridan, who’s from Oviedo, Fla. “So it really is just a full-circle moment to watch them as a kid, play against them as a player and now coach here as a coach. It’s been a crazy ride and just keep it going for now.”
Sheridan, who joined the staff last year as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, is the youngest head coach in Division I. He replaced Tony Rossi, 79, a Siena institution who on March 6 announced his retirement in his 54th season. Rossi was the longest-tenured head coach in Division I baseball history.
Siena is 0-8 since Rossi’s announcement. While Rossi remained in the office, Sheridan ran the team as the assistant for six consecutive losses at Florida and Richmond.
Rossi’s final day of work was Monday. In Sheridan’s first two games as interim head coach, Siena lost 15-6 at Fordham on Tuesday before losing 5-4 in 16 innings to Army on Wednesday at West Point.
The Saints (2-18) open Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play with a scheduled three-game series at Fairfield from Friday through Sunday.
Rossi isn’t in the Saints dugout for the first time since 1969, when Richard Nixon was in his first year as U.S. president and before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.
In his…
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