Miami RedHawks baseball
2025 Miami RedHawks baseball team
Founded	1915; 110 years ago (1915)
University	Miami University
Head coach	Brian Smiley (2nd season)
Conference	Mid–American
Location	Oxford, Ohio
Home stadium	McKie Field at Hayden Park (2002–present) (Capacity: 1,000)
Nickname	RedHawks
Colors	Red and white[1]
NCAA Tournament appearances
1973, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1983, 2000, 2005
Conference tournament champions
1983, 2000, 2005
Regular season conference champions
1973, 1974, 1979

TheMiami RedHawks baseball team (formerly theMiami Redskins) is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team ofMiami University inOxford, Ohio, United States.^[2] The team is a member of theMid-American Conference, which competes in theNational Collegiate Athletic AssociationDivision I.

Beginning play in 1915, and Mid-American Conference (MAC) play in 1948, Miami has made the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship 7 times. The team has won 4 MAC conference championships, 3 MAC East Division titles (divisional play in the MAC was held from 1998 to 2017), and 3MAC Tournament titles (the tournament began in 1981).^[3][4] The team plays its home games atMcKie Field at Hayden Park inOxford, Ohio.

Walter Alston lettered three years for Miami in both baseball and basketball. He played professionally for theSt. Louis Cardinals organization, playing just one game at the major league level (two innings, one at bat) in 1936. After stints in the minors as both a player and manager, Alston returned to the big leagues with theBrooklyn Dodgers as manager in 1954, then moved with the team toLos Angeles in 1958, where he coached until retiring in 1976.^[5][6]

Alston won seven National League pennants in his 23-year tenure as Dodgers manager. The franchise won four world championships as well—in1955 with Brooklyn and in1959,1963 and1965 with Los Angeles. NamedManager of the Year three times, Alston also guided a victoriousNational League All-Star squad a record seven times. He retired after the 1976 season with 2,063 wins (2,040 in the regular season and 23 in the postseason) and was elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame in 1983.^[7][8]

Alston is a charter member of the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame,^[9] inducted in 1969. In 2001, indicative of the history of developing coaches at the university, Alston was inducted into the MiamiCradle of Coaches alongside Miami legends such asAra Parseghian,Weeb Ewbank andPaul Brown.^[10]

The first Miamian to play in the major leagues wasEddie Morgan ofLakewood, Ohio who played for two seasons with theSt. Louis Cardinals (1936) andBrooklyn Dodgers (1937).^[11]Buddy Schultz, an All-American for Miami in 1972, played for 5 seasons with theChicago Cubs andSt. Louis Cardinals (1975–1979), but is famous for striking out 26 batters in a single game (a 27th out was a bunt fielded by Schultz) for Miami againstWright State in 1971, an NCAA record.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Charlie Liebrandt, First Team All-MAC in 1978, won 140 games in a stellar 14-year MLB career, including helping theKansas City Royals to aWorld Series title in 1985.^[16][3]Steve Fireovid pitched for 6 seasons in the majors, but is perhaps best known as the subject of the bookThe 26th Man: One Minor League Pitcher's Pursuit of a Dream, written with fellow Miami alumnusMark Winegardner. In 1990, while pitching for theMontreal Expos’Triple-A affiliateIndianapolis Indians, Fireovid composed a journal of his experiences. The journal was turned into a book,The 26th Man: One Minor League Pitcher's Pursuit of a Dream in 1991.^[17] The book was co-authored by Winegardner.^[18]

Bill Doran was a Miami All-American in 1979, would go on to 12-year professional career, and played for his hometownCincinnati Reds during their 1990World Series winning campaign.^[19]Tim Naehring was theMid-American Conference Baseball Player of the Year in 1988 and would play for 8 years with theBoston Red Sox.^[4][20]Chris Sexton was an All-MAC player for three seasons (1991–1992) in Oxford, was honored as the second Miamian to win the MAC Player of the Year award and would play professionally for theColorado Rockies (1995) and Cincinnati Reds (1997).

Adam Eaton was a two-time All-MAC player for Miami, would play professionally in the majors for 10-years, including a2019 World Series title with theWashington Nationals.^[21] Seth Varner was the 2014MAC Pitcher of the Year, the only RedHawk pitcher to receive that honor.

And Miami continues to serve as a launching pad for coaches.Tracy Smith played for Miami (1985–1988), coached the RedHawks (1997–2005), including the 2005 MAC regular season and MAC Tournament championship team, and has also ledArizona State,Indiana and theMichigan Wolverines.^[22] Smith was named the Big Ten and National Coach of the Year in 2014.Danny Hall was a 4-year letterman for Miami baseball (1974–1977), served as the head coach forGeorgia Tech for over 30 years, and is a member of the Cradle of Coaches along with Smith.^[10]

In total, since theMajor League Baseball Draft began in 1965, Miami has had over 74 players selected.^[23] Robert Bixler was the first Miamian ever drafted, in the 46th round by theDetroit Tigers in the inaugural draft, who would go unsigned.^[24] Over 26 RedHawk players have appeared in themajor leagues,^[25] and 9 have been honored as All-American - Gary Cooper (1972), Buddy Schultz (1972), Dennis Smith (1973), Mark Naehring (1977), Bill Doran (1979), Jason Knoedler (2001), Michael Carlin (2002), Mike Ferris (2004), and John Slone (2004).^[3]

• List of NCAA Division I baseball programs

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMiami RedHawks baseball.

• Official website

• Miami RedHawks baseball
• Baseball teams established in 1915
• 1915 establishments in Ohio

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link from Wikidata