Baseball Head Coach
Ray Hedrick
(Randolph-Macon, 1997)
804-752-7303
Contact Coach Hedrick
Ray Hedrick completed his third season at Randolph-Macon College and 10th overall as a college baseball coach in the spring of 2007.
No stranger to the baseball community, Hedrick served as top assistant and recruiting coordinator at three different schools before his return to his alma mater in Ashland in the fall of 2004.
In just three seasons as head baseball coach at R-MC, Hedrick has led the Jackets to several team and individual honors. Along with tying a school record for wins in the spring of 2006, Hedrick’s team reached the ODAC tournament for the first time in nine seasons, finishing fourth out of ten teams in the league. When R-MC qualified for the ODAC Tournament in 2007, it marked just the first time the program had done so in back-to-back seasons since 1991 and 1992.
The success of the program over the past three seasons has led to seven All-Conference players, including the 2006 ODAC Pitcher and the ODAC Rookie-of-the-Year award winners.
In addition, Randolph-Macon Baseball was proud to have their first South Region Pitcher-of-the -Year and All-American awarded last spring in senior Travis Beazley. Beazley capped off a two year career under Hedrick by being selected in the 38th round of the 2006 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Boston Red Sox, the first such player to be taken from R-MC.
Prior to his hiring as Randolph-Macon's head coach, Hedrick was the top assistant to Paul O'Neil at Division II UNC Pembroke (2001-2004) and at Division III Shenandoah University (1998-2000). At both institutions, Hedrick helped O'Neil resurrect programs that had not tasted success in years into national powers, while quickly establishing himself as one of the top young coaches and recruiters among the college baseball coaching ranks.
Hedrick served in a variety of areas for O'Neil in their six seasons together. A relentless recruiter, Hedrick headed up the efforts in that area. On the field, Hedrick coached the bases while working with the hitters and the defense. By stressing offensive productivity, both institutions broke school records and finished ranked nationally in batting, scoring, home runs and slugging percentage. He brings that same mentality to the Randolph-Macon offense.
In seven seasons as an assistant, Hedrick's teams amassed 175 wins, including record-setting campaigns in 2000 at Shenandoah, and the 2001 and 2003 seasons at UNCP. Hedrick's recruits played a major role in the success of each program. Out of his six various recruiting classes, Hedrick had several all-conference, all-region and all-state players, as well as three All-Americans, including a player who won the triple crown in the Dixie Conference (now USA South) while leading the country with a .506 batting average in 2000.
A Springfield, Virginia native, Hedrick played two years of JUCO baseball at Prince George's Community College for legendary coach William "Bumps" Vaughan. He went on to finish his degree and playing career at Randolph-Macon College, helping lead the Yellow Jackets to the ODAC championships in 1997, which was the last time that R-MC qualified for the tournament before last spring.
After graduating from Randolph-Macon in 1997 with a B.A. degree in political science, Hedrick served as an assistant for Vaughan at PGCC. Hedrick also worked with the Bowie Baysox, the AA Eastern League affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, before joining O'Neil in 1998.
In addition to his duties as an assistant, Hedrick served three summers (2001-2003) as head coach of the New Market Rebels of the prestigious Valley Baseball League. During his tenure, Hedrick amassed 77 wins and led the Rebels to two championship appearances, winning the league in 2002 and falling seven outs short of repeating in 2003. Over the course of those three summers, Hedrick coached over 30 players that are now playing on the professional level, including current major league pitchers Mike O’Connor (Washington), Chris Ray (Baltimore) and Jared Burton (Cincinnati).
Hedrick, 31, is married to the former Sheree Rogers of Woodstock, Virginia. They have one daughter, Maris who turned one in June of 2007.
Lucas Jones
Assistant CoachFormer First-Team All-American and Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year Lucas Jones will join the Yellow Jackets as an assistant coach in 2008.
A former standout at ODAC rival Lynchburg College, Jones will work with Hedrick on all day-to-day operations of the R-MC baseball program including spearheading recruiting efforts, on field instruction, while over seeing the team’s academic performance and strength and conditioning program.
Jones takes over for Evan Brannon who left the R-MC program in December after three seasons to take an Area Scouting Supervisor position in Florida with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization.
“Although I am disappointed to lose a quality individual like Evan, I am equally as excited to have the opportunity to add a guy like Lucas Jones to our staff, particularly at this time of year,” said Hedrick. “His accomplishments as a student-athlete in the ODAC are unparalleled, and I am anxious for him to begin working with our players.”
Jones comes to R-MC after spending last season with the Rams of Virginia Commonwealth University where he served as a volunteer assistant under Paul Keyes. While at VCU, he was a member the staff that helped guide the Rams to the 2007 CAA Championship and an appearance at the NCAA Tournament in the Myrtle Beach, SC Regional.
As a player at Lynchburg, Jones hit .426 in his three years in the program, starting all possible 121 games over that span. In 2005, he earned the ODAC, State and Regional Player of the Year Awards, and took home first-team All-American honors. Jones was also the conference baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a first-team academic All-American.
“I’ am truly fortunate to have the opportunity to join the staff of a baseball program and educational institution with great people that are committed to excellence,” said Jones.