Duncan Adds Pair to Coaching Staff
9/7/2023 1:04:00 PM | Baseball
KENT- Kent State head baseball coach Jeff Duncan has announced the hiring of two new assistants, Ryan Sloniger and Ryan Shawley in advance of the start of the upcoming season.
Sloniger rejoins the Golden Flashes as the third assistant on Duncan's staff while Shawley takes over as the Director of Player Development. He was a volunteer assistant for the Flashes for the 2022 season where he worked with the catchers and assisted with the pitching staff. He returns to the Flashes after spending last year as an assistant coach at Gardner Webb.
Sloniger spent three seasons in the Toronto Blue Jays' farm system. He was drafted by Toronto in the 38th round of the 2019 draft out of Penn State, where he was the starting catcher from 2016 to 2019. He had a decorated career with the Nittany Lions, starting 166 games over four seasons. He still ranks in the top-5 in career putouts and led Penn State in batting average, runs batted in, home runs, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage in 2018.
Sloniger has also worked with U.S. Elite Baseball as a national recruiting adviser, working with prospective student-athletes about the recruiting process. He got his coaching career started last summer, serving as a collegiate summer coach in a college wood bat league.
Shawley also joins the Flashes from Gardner Webb where he was the Director of Player Development and Assistant Pitching Coach, he will assume the same role with Kent State. In his two seasons with the Runnin' Bulldogs, he helped drop the team earned run average by over a run per game.
The Latrobe, Pennsylvania native also served as an assistant at Keiser University where he helped the ball club reach eight in the national rankings and worked with the pitching staff. Shawley had a decorated playing career at Chatham University in Pennsylvania where he played across the infield and was in the starting rotation. He ranks in the top-5 in program history in innings pitched, strikeouts and wins and holds the program record for games started and games played.
The Golden Flashes begin the defense of the regular season Mid-American Conference title with their fall ball season this week. Kent State will host Malone in the annual fall ball game on Wednesday, October 4th with a 6 p.m. scheduled first pitch at Schoonover Stadium.
