Newberry College baseball head coach Jay Snyder announced the hiring of Seth Lancaster as an assistant coach joining Gordie Theisen to round out the Wolves full-time 2024-25 coaching staff.

Theisen joined the Wolves as pitching coach last year after a long tenure as a successful head and assistant coach in the state of Michigan.

"I am excited that Gordie will be returning as our pitching coach to continue developing our staff," said Synder.  "When we interviewed him before the start of the 2023-2024 season it was very clear that Coach Theisen is a relationship builder.  We saw firsthand how he built those relationships with his guys as the pitching staff continued to develop from the start of the season to the end.  I am very fortunate to have someone on my staff like Gordie who has been a head coach and someone I can lean on for advice."

Lancaster, a member of the 2018 Coastal Carolina national championship team, joins the Newberry staff after spending the past two seasons as assistant hitting coach for Division I Radford University (Va.).

"One of the first things I made clear to our infielders was that I was going to hire someone that could continue to teach the fine intricacies of those positions and I am confident and excited that Coach Lancaster fits exactly what I was looking for," said Snyder.  "His passion and energy about coaching and developing players is very evident after spending the last couple days with him.  His core principles defensively resonated with creating a winning infield that is rooted on the fundamentals."

Under Theisen's leadership, the Wolves pitching staff had the third best team earned run average in South Atlantic Conference games with pitchers Hunter French and Matias Marchesini earning third team all-conference honors and French also earning a spot on the SAC All-Tournament team.

He spent the previous two years as an assistant coach at Grand Valley State, helping the Lakers to 62 wins in two seasons (2022-23).

Previously, Theisen coached at Hillsdale College (2014-21) where he served as a recruiting coordinator/pitching coach under his son Eric. Theisen helped Hillsdale set a program record with 32 wins while qualifying for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in 2016. Two years later in 2018, Theisen helped lead Hillsdale to a GMAC Tournament championship and another NCAA Tournament appearance. 

Prior to his time at Hillsdale, Theisen served as the pitching coach at NCAA Division III Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan, where he helped lead the program to the NCAA Division III national playoffs on multiple occasions. He coached three straight MIAA Pitchers of the Year, from 2009-11, and Adrian had a staff earned run average of 2.56 in 2011, which ranked second in all of NCAA Division III.

Theisen served as the head baseball coach at Siena Heights University in Adrian (1987-2003). During his time at Siena Heights, Theisen compiled 341 career wins, coached numerous All-Americans and guided several players to the professional baseball ranks. His 1989 team claimed the NAIA District 23 championship and made it to the regional finals that season.  Theisen was inducted into the Siena Heights Athletic Hall of Fame in the fall of 2021. 

He received both his undergraduate (1982) and graduate (2011) degrees from Siena Height and has two grown children – Tess and Eric.  Eric is the Milwaukee Brewers Triple-A Nashville's hitting coach and the organization's assistant hitting coordinator. 

Lancaster, a native of Hanahan, S.C., was an All-America selection after batting .305 with 20 home runs and 57 runs batted in which included a .444 average in the postseason in helping lead the Chanticleers to the national title.

During his four-year career at Coastal, he started 191 of his 214 career games, with 34 home runs, 134 runs batted in and scored 175 runs with 53 stolen bases.

He finished his career ranked third in CCU history in walks with 146, fifth in home runs, sixth in runs scored, 11th in games played and 13th in stolen bases.  He was the only player in the nation to rank among the NCAA top-10 in walks, runs scored and home runs in his senior season.

Lancaster was drafted in the eighth round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft in 2018 by the Philadelphia Phillies and went on to play with Williamsport in the New York Penn League, Lakewood in the South Atlantic League and the Sugarland Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League.

Before joining the Radford staff, Lancaster was a volunteer assistant at Georgia Southern (2021) and a graduate assistant at Longwood (Va.) in 2022.

Lancaster earned his undergraduate degree at Coastal Carolina in 2018.