Last week, former Liverpool High School star pitcher Scott Cassidy was named head coach of the LeMoyne College baseball team. Cassidy becomes the fourth coach to manage the Dolphins in its 43-year history.
Because he graduated from LeMoyne in 1998, Cassidy is understandably proud to be heading its baseball program, but he’s taking over at a difficult time. Beginning in the 2012 season, Le Moyne baseball will move down from Division I to Division II.
Still, since beginning his coaching career in 2008, Cassidy said he has had his eye on the Le Moyne job.
“Ideally, I wanted to be the head coach here,” he said, “so it’s worked out really nicely for me.”
Cassidy replaces previous coach Steve Owens, who will coach at Bryant College in Rhode Island – where baseball is a Division I program.
The new head coach and his two assistant coaches — Scott Landers and Corey O’Neill — were scheduled to oversee the team’s first fall practice Sept. 7, right after the Labor Day holiday.
Cassidy, who turns 35 on Oct. 3, graduated from Liverpool High School in 1993 after playing four seasons of baseball there as an outfielder and pitcher.
In his senior year, he went 7-1 with a 1.17 earned-run average. He was the winningest pitcher in the Onondaga High School League North division and was first team All-County. That season, the Warriors’ went 13-5 and won the league title, under then-coach Bob Yudin. They lost the 1993 Section III Class A title game, in which Cassidy did not pitch.
The right-hander went on to excel as a starter for LeMoyne, where he made dean’s list in 1996 and 1997 before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.
In three seasons with the Dolphins, Cassidy went 14-12 with one save, a 3.44 ERA and 153 strikeouts over 186 innings. He posted a program-record 18 complete games and four shutouts.
Out of college, Cassidy was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays. During his first professional season in Medicine Hat, he made the Pioneer League All-Star Team. While with Single-A Dunedin in the Florida State League in 2000, he threw a no-hitter against Fort Myers.
Over the course of his major-league career (2002 and 2005-06), Cassidy’s record was 8-9, with 4.88 ERA. He pitched primarily for the Toronto Blue Jays and the San Diego Padres but also had stints with the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. While in Toronto’s organization, he pitched for the Syracuse SkyChiefs in 2001,’02 and ’03.
After retiring from pro ball during spring training with the Brewers in 2008, Cassidy accepted a head coaching position at Sullivan County Community College, in the Catskills. In 2009, he became pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Le Moyne.
Le Moyne Athletic Director Matt Bassett called Cassidy “a perfect fit” as the college’s new baseball coach.
Cassidy lives in the village of Liverpool with his wife, Melissa. He’s the son of Mike and Barbara Cassidy of Clay.
