Since the hiring of Romick in August of 2014, the University of Dayton baseball team has seen marked improvements across the pitching staff, finishing the 2016 season with its lowest ERA since 2011.
Dayton set some of its best marks over the past three seasons in 2016, with a 4.60 ERA, 1.56 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and an opponent’s batting average against of .278.
Under Romick’s tutelage, two pitchers have been named Pitcher of the Week while current Flyer Austin Cline made his mark on the mound as a freshman. Cline earned Rookie of the Week and a spot on the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team in 2016.
Romick joined Dayton after a two-year stint with Denison, where he was the top assistant and volunteer prior to that. With the Big Red, he helped the team to the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division title and a 14-5 conference mark.
In his first year at Denison, Romick led a talented pitching staff that had the second-best ERA in the league with a 3.63 team ERA, a two-run drop from the year before. The Big Red were also amongst the conference leaders in strikeouts, opponents’ batting average, and innings pitched.
Romick went into coaching after a standout career with the University of Akron from 2006-09. In his sophomore campaign, Romick anchored the bullpen with 22 appearances, 29 strikeouts, and four saves in 34 innings of work. He continued that success in his junior season with 23 strikeouts in 29 innings. Romick capped off his career with a Pitcher of the Year honor after giving up just 21 hits in 28 1/3 innings on the mound. He led the team with a 3.45 ERA while adding three saves and a .208 opponent batting average.
A native of Hannibal, Ohio, Romick played his high school ball at River High School, earning All-Ohio honors in baseball and basketball. He batted .461 with a 0.71 ERA in his senior year while racking up 1,051 career points on the court.
“This is a great opportunity for me and I am eager and excited to get going,” Romick stated in 2014. “I am ready to help build a championship caliber pitching staff that can help Dayton get back to the top of the Atlantic 10. Coach V has given me a great opportunity here and I hope to continue the success I had at Denison here with the Flyers.”
Romick received his bachelor of science degree in biology from Akron before completing his master’s of education from Ohio Valley University in West Virginia. As a graduate assistant with OVU, he helped the pitching staff drop its ERA by 2.49 runs and had 67 fewer walks in his two years with the program.
“Our baseball program at the University of Dayton is pleased to announce the addition of Ryne Romick as our pitching coach,” said Head Coach Tony Vittorio. “We are excited to watch Ryne put his dynamic approach to pitching as well as his recruiting skills to work at the University of Dayton. Ryne will be a good fit to our staff.”
