Matt Yurish was named as the university's head baseball coach on May 24, 2021. Yurish enters his fourth year as head baseball coach of the Fighting Falcons in 2025.
The 2024 season was a bounce back year for the Falcons as they went 20-29 while finishing 16-12 in conference play. Fairmont State made it to the MEC Tournament where it fell just one game short of making it to Championship Sunday. Quintin Smith was named All-MEC Second Team while Ryan Goff joined him with an Honorable Mention distinction.
Following the 2023 season, the Falcons finished with a 11-35 record and posted a record of 10-20 in league matchups. Four members of the team earned Academic All-District honors in 2023 including Ryan Goff, Logan McClure, Isaac Miller and Steven Ricketts.
Fairmont State baseball finished the 2022 season with a record of 27-22 and went 22-10 in conference contests. Yurish saw senior Zachary Musgrove earn multiple recognitions through the end of the season as Musgrove was named to the D2CCA All-Atlantic Region First Team, NCBWA All-Atlantic Second Team, and All-MEC First Team. Three other Falcons earned All-MEC honors in 2022 as Logan Smith (Second Team), Connor Cramer (Honorable Mention), and Vince Sabatino (Honorable Mention) joined Musgrove on the list.
Prior to coaching, Yurish was also a standout collegiate player at West Virginia University, where he led the Mountaineers in strikeouts in each of his last three seasons with the program. Following his standout career at WVU, Yurish also played professionally with the Washington Wild Things in the Frontier League.
During his tenure leading the Battler program, Yurish had two 20-win campaigns, made three postseason appearances and coached 19 all-conference standouts. He coached four first-team All-GMAC standouts in 2017 and 2019, including pitcher Randy Dobnak, an all-region standout that moved on to play professionally with the Minnesota Twins following his graduation in 2017.
This past season at AB, Yurish led the Battlers to a berth in the Mountain East Conference Baseball Tournament. The Battlers went 2-2 during tournament play in Beckley with wins over regionally-ranked West Virginia State and Charleston. Five players earned All-MEC honors following the 2021 season.
Yurish also guided his 2017 and 2019 AB baseball teams to postseason play, totaling 21 wins during each of the two campaigns. Seven players earned All-GMAC honors following the 2017 season, while three garnered postseason accolades in 2018 and four were recognized by the GMAC in 2019. (The 2020 season was cut short due to COVID-19 and postseason honors were not announced)
Prior to taking the reins as the program's head coach, Yurish served as Alderson Broaddus's assistant baseball coach/pitching coach for three seasons from 2014 to 2016. During his tenure as an assistant, Yurish helped the Battlers to a pair of 30-win seasons and a GMAC Baseball Championship following the 2016 season. The 2016 Battlers also qualified for NCAA postseason play at the Midwest Regional Tournament.
While serving as assistant coach at AB, Yurish coached at least one first team all-conference pitcher during three-consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2016. He coached two GMAC Pitchers of the Year in 2014 and 2016.
Prior to moving over to coaching, Yurish was a four-year standout for the West Virginia University baseball team from 2005-2008. During his four years as a member of the Mountaineer pitching staff, Yurish compiled a record of 17-12 with a career ERA of 4.40.
Yurish still ranks in the top-10 in four different categories in WVU baseball history, including career starts (T-4
th, 42), career strikeouts (8
th, 247), career innings pitched (9
th, 247.2) and strikeouts per nine innings (9
th, 8.99).
Yurish led WVU in strikeouts in 2006 (71), 2007 (76) and 2008 (74), and also had a team-best 3.84 earned-run average during the 2006 season. He was also named National Pitcher of the Week on April 10, 2006. As a senior, Yurish had a 6-2 record with 74 strikeouts.
Yurish was also a multiple-time Big East Pitcher of the Week while at West Virginia, and also earned Big East Academic All-Star honors for his work in the classroom.
Yurish earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from West Virginia University in 2008. He also obtained a Master's of Arts Degree in Sport and Fitness from the University of Central Florida in December of 2012.
He and his wife, Emilee, along with their children, Wyatt and Kayce, currently reside in Bridgeport.
| Matt Yurish Record 2022-Present |
| Year |
Overall Record |
Conference Record |
| 2022 |
27-22 |
22-10 |
| 2023 |
11-35 |
10-20 |
| 2024 |
20-29 |
16-12 |
| Total |
58-86 (.403) |
48-42 (.533) |
