Dayton Flyers

University of Dayton head baseball coach Tony Vittorio has announced that Jim Roberson has been named the Flyers’ new pitching coach.  Roberson, who had been the program’s administrative and operations assistant, succeeds Todd Linklater.  Linklater is now coaching at Ball State.

“I am extremely excited about the addition of Jim to our coaching staff,” Vittorio said.  “Our pitchers have excelled throughout the years under Todd (Linklater).  Having been part of our program, coach Roberson will bring the same Dayton Flyer pitching philosophy to our team, but add his own approach based on his past success as a pitching coach at the college and amateur levels.”

Roberson, 28, has been on the Dayton staff for the last two years.  Prior to UD he spent two seasons as the pitching coach at Lincoln Memorial University while working on his MBA.  During his time at LMU, the Railsplitters were nationally ranked and reached the post-season for the first time since 1999.  Before that, he was an assistant coach for baseball and football at Hiram College, and coached in the Patterson Park Classics organization.

He has spent the last two summers as the pitching coach for the Fayetteville SwampDogs in the Coastal Plain League, one of the top summer collegiate wooden bat leagues in the country.  In 2011, the team had the best record in the league’s South Division.  This year, the SwampDogs had the best ERA in the regular season (3.00).  Fayetteville is currently one of three teams still alive in the CPL’s post-season playoffs.

The Miamisburg High School graduate pitched for four years at Defiance College, where he graduated in 2006, majoring in Management with a minor in Economics.

The Flyers are coming off their first-ever appearance in an NCAA regional.  The defending Atlantic 10 Conference champions return two players from the A-10 All-Tournament team – infielder Robby Sunderman and outfielder Ian Hundley.