Travis Beazley became the head coach of the Hornets in August 2023 after six historically successful seasons as Lynchburg's associate head coach. In his first season at the helm he achieved the VaSID Coach of the Year.
The former professional ballplayer joined the Lynchburg coaching staff as assistant coach prior to the 2018 season and was promoted to associate head coach in December 2018. Beazley’s primary duties were working with the Hornet pitchers as well as recruiting. Beazley joined Lynchburg after six seasons on staff at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., first serving as assistant coach and later as associate head coach.
Beazley’s pitching staff helped lead Lynchburg to a national championship in 2023. Brandon Pond, Wesley Arrington, and Zack Potts threw three-straight complete games during the national championship tournament, and Potts was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. The 2023 staff also had the lowest ERA in Division III at 3.23 and the most strikeouts with 491.
In his first season, the Hornets’ pitching staff dropped nearly a point and a half off its team earned run average, and Lynchburg reached its first Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament since 2014.
During his second year, the Hornets went 11-11 in the conference and lost in the first round of the ODAC Tournament. Lynchburg went 11-4 before COVID-19 cut the 2020 season short.
Coach Beazley helped coach the Hornets to their first conference title and NCAA Regional Tournament appearance since 2012. Lynchburg also set a program record for wins with 36 in 2021. Beazley's pitching staff set the program record for strikeouts with 454. He also coached the 2021 ODAC Pitcher of the Year. Hornets pitching led the conference in ERA, conference ERA, strikeouts, BB/9, K/BB ratio and were second in the conference for K/9.Â
In 2022, he guided Nick Mattfield, a sophomore pitcher, to nine wins and ODAC Rookie of the Year honors. Grayson Thurman broke a 44-year-old record with 107 strikeouts in 2022, and the team fanned 426 batters.
A 2006 graduate of Randolph-Macon College, Beazley was a second-team All-American as well as the ODAC Pitcher of the Year and South Region Pitcher of the Year as a senior.
He was selected in the 38th round of the MLB Amateur Draft that year by the Boston Red Sox. The right-handed pitcher spent four seasons in the Sox’s system, reaching as high as Double-A before beginning his coaching career. He led all Boston minor leaguers in wins in the 2007 season, piling up 13 victories between Single-A Greenville (S.C.) and Advanced-A Lancaster (Calif.).
Beazley returned to his alma mater in 2010 as an assistant coach and joined the VMI coaching staff the following year.
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