The Radford baseball program has announced the hiring of Damian Stambersky as its next pitching coach.
Stambersky has more than 20 years of coaching experience as both a championship pitching coach and most recently serving as a head coach at CSU-Pueblo.
“It is important to me that we surround our players and baseball program with a championship pedigree,” commented RU head baseball coach Karl Kuhn. “Damian has taken two pitching staffs to the Division II College World Series. He has competed for championships at the division one level as a player and has coached in championship settings on Division II’s grandest stage.\
“Our players and our program will be better for the addition of Damian into our fold,” Kuhn said. “I am honored and humbled that Damian, his wife Valerie, and their two children will be joining our Radford baseball family.”
In just his first season at CSU-Pueblo fighting the COVID-19 pandemic Stambersky posted a 15-24 overall record. While Stambersky was at the helm, the Thunderwolves recorded victories over the 25th ranked, 21st ranked, 18th ranked, and 1st ranked teams in Division II. The team’s highlight of the season came when they handed the top-team in Division II, Colorado Mesa, just their third regular season loss of the season and snapped their 21-game winning streak.
Before his time at CSU-Pueblo, Stambersky spent six seasons as the pitching coach at the University of Central Missouri. While there, the Mules made two NCAA Division II College World Series appearances (2016 and 2019) and compiled a 210-91 record. The Mules captured two Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) regular season championships, made three NCAA Regionals appearances, and won three MIAA Tournament championships while he was an assistant coach with the program.
In 2020 before the season was shortened due to COVID-19, Stambersky coached three pitchers who would eventually sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Houston Astros, which brought his total to seven players signed by MLB teams during his career.
Stambersky’s pitching staff ranked in the top two in the MIAA in ERA during all six of his seasons at Central Missouri. In 2019, the team posted a 46-16 record with a 3.86 ERA, which included striking out an MIAA-best 562 batters. Opponents were held to a .227 batting average that season, and in the postseason the program posted a 2.70 ERA on the way to a third-place finish in Division II.
Stambersky also coached 17 pitchers to All-MIAA honors and another two to All-American honors. Among his primary duties as top assistant coach were the coordination and implementation of all recruiting efforts. He was responsible for all advanced scouting and defensive game planning and ran all prospect and youth baseball camps. As the pitching coach, he designed individual pitching development plans, managed pitching staff usage, and created individual strength and conditioning plans for the pitchers.
Before his time at Central Missouri, he spent 11 seasons coaching at Kansas City Community College as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. While there he coached nine players to Division I opportunities and four players who would move on to play professionally.
Stambersky got his coaching start with four seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas Little Rock. The Trojans won 109 games during his tenure there with a school-record 33 wins in 2000.
Stambersky earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and entrepreneurship from the University of Arkansas Little Rock in 2000. He obtained a master’s degree in exercise science in 2007 from California University of Pennsylvania.
