Coach Ratchford is entering his 4th season at SUNY Cobleskill. Last season the Tigers were crowned the 2021 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Western Division Champions and made the programs first ever appearance in the NAC Championship.
They finished the season as the NAC regular season champs with a 10-4 conference record and a 15-9 overall record. Jayson Maxwell and Stephen Tejada became the program’s first All-Region Players since moving to the NCAA from NJCAA (D3Baseball New York Region third team).
His team earned 4 All-NAC players and 3 All-Academic Players.
Coach Ratchford and the Fighting Tigers finished the shortened 2020 season 8-5 overall. Due to the tragic COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled after their 13th game. His first baseman Nick Thomas led all of NCAA Division III with 6 home runs through 13 games and was named the Fighting Tiger Athlete of the Week. Pitcher Devin Lewis was named the NEAC Pitcher of the Week in consecutive weeks.
In his first season as the Fighting Tigers Baseball Head Coach, Ratchford quickly made his mark and created a new era and vision for the baseball program. The team finished 16-22 overall with a 9-9 conference record, which was an instant improvement from their 3-28 record in 2018. Their improvement went down in the record books as one of the best turnarounds in the NCAA and the country, no matter the division.
Not only did they have one of the best turnarounds in the country under Coach Ratchford, but for the first time in program history the SUNY Cobleskill baseball team qualified for the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Championship Tournament.
His second baseman Joseph Ciatto was named the NEAC Rookie of the Year. Ciatto was selected to the All-NEAC Second Team. His outfielder Jayson Maxwell was named the SUNY Cobleskill's 2019 Male Scholar Athlete of the Year for posting a 3.7 GPA in Environmental Management. Four of his players were named Fighting Tiger Athlete of the Week.
Three of his players were named NEAC Scholar Athletes and two of his players were inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma honor society, the Athletic Academic Fraternity. Ratchford was named the runner up for NEAC Coach of the Year, which is an award voted on by the coaches.
Ratchford comes to Cobleskill from Marist College where he had been serving as the program's assistant coach since 2016 responsible for assisting with: recruiting, offensive coaching, outfielders and first base coaching while coordinating the program's camps and clinics. He had previously served an assistant coach at the State University of New York at Oneonta for five years during which: time seven Red Dragon players were named All-SUNYAC, 23 players were named to the SUNYAC All-Academic Team with six being named to the SUNYAC Commissioners List.
He was the Assistant Coach at Marist College from 2016-2018 and played an instrumental part of 3 straight postseason runs. In 2016, he had 1 Louisville Slugger All-American, 1 All-MAAC player and 14 players on the All-Academic All-MAAC team. In 2017, he coached 3 All-MAAC players, 10 All-Academic All-MAAC team and one of his players selected in the 2017 MLB Draft. He helped capture the 2017 MAAC Championship, which earned a birth to the NCAA Tournament and in the Gainesville Regional his team fell to the eventually National Champions Florida Gators. The next season he coached 3 All-MAAC players and earned 13 All-Academic All-MAAC players.
A native of Oneonta, N.Y., Ratchford graduated from Oneonta High School posting a stellar prep career. In baseball during his time playing for the Yellow Jackets and coach Joe Hughes: he was a Second Team All-New York State High School Athletic Association (NYSHSAA) Class B selection while earning First Team All-Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) honors and First Time All-Daily Star Team honors during his career.
Ratchford played collegiately at both NCAA Division II Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pa. and Division III Keystone College in LaPlume, Pa. from which he earned his Bachelors of Science Degree in Sport & Recreation Management. While at Mansfield, he lettered three years while being a part of two teams that appeared in its conference tournament with the team qualifying for the 2010 NCAA Division II Championship Tournament.
During his senior season at Keystone College he helped lead the Giants to their third straight Colonial State Athletic Conference championship and the 2011 NCAA Division III World Series by winning the New York Regional Tournament with him earning Regional All-Tournament Team honors. For the campaign he batted .339 in 42 games for the Giants with 37 hits, 20 scored runs and runs batted in with a slugging percentage of .412 and an on-base percentage of .368.
His 2011 Keystone team was inducted into the Keystone College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.
In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Ratchford has served as assistant coach for the Brewster Whitecaps of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). In his first season, the Whitecaps led the league in hitting and he coached both the league's MVP and the Major League Baseball Top Prospect Award Winner. He also coached the 2015 Perfect Game Summer Baseball National Player of the Year along with the CCBL Reliever of the Year. The Whitecaps finished with the league's second best record and earned the No. 2 seed in the CCBL playoffs.
During his two summer in the Cape Cod League, Ratchford coached over 50 MLB draft picks including 6 first round draft picks. He coached Nick Senzel who was the number 2 overall pick in 2016 MLB Draft and made his depute for the Cincinnati Reds. Also, he coached Will Smith from the University of Louisville who was a First Round Draft pick in 2016 and made his depute for the LA Dodgers.
Ratchford returned to the Cape Cod League in 2021. He coached the Brewster Whitecaps of the Prestigious Cape Cod Baseball for the first time since 2016. His team captured the 2021 Cape Cod Baseball League Championship (2021 Regular Season Division Championship). They broke numerous organization records including best overall win percentage. They swept the entire post season and went on to win the CCBL Championship.
He also spent three summers (2012-14) as an assistant coach with the Oneonta Outlaws of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL). In 2012, he was selected to coach in the Perfect Game Collegiate League All-Star game in Amsterdam, N.Y. In 2013, the Outlaws won the New York Collegiate Baseball League Championship. In 2014, the Outlaws won the Divisional championship while finishing as the NYCBL runner-ups.
