Ryan Overland introduced as new Fresno State head baseball coach

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A new era of Fresno State Baseball is officially underway in the Central Valley.

Ryan Overland was introduced as the new head coach of the Diamond Dogs in front of a loaded house at the Josephine Theater on the University Campus Thursday morning.

After spending the 2023 season as the interim head coach, Overland makes the easy transition to secure his position at the helm.

Following in the footsteps of his predecessor and former Head Coach Mike Batesole, Overland becomes the 9th head coach in program history, and just the fourth since 1948.

"I can't be more thankful for this opportunity," Overland said. "I want to thank everybody for being here, and I think this room speaks to how important this program is to a lot of people."

Fresno State Athletic Director Terry Tumey explained when he knew Overland was the man for the job.

"I really didn't realize or know he was the person until the interview process," Tumey said. "I understood his vision of where the program should go and really start to piece together possibilities of things I saw throughout the season that supported that."

After an extensive national coaching search that included candidates from the D-I programs and Major League Baseball, Overland's experience as a both a player and coach within the program helped secure his new role.

Overland took the time to thank legendary coaches like Pete Beiden, Bob Bennett, and his former skipper Mike Batesole.

"Coach Batesole changed lives," Overland said. "Sometimes, people believe in you before you believe in yourself, and he did that for me a number of times."

Before being appointed interim coach, Overland served as the pitching coach under Batesole for five seasons. In that time, the Bulldogs combined for 126 wins and a 5.01 ERA.

Overland also spent the last 10 years as Fresno State Baseball's recruiting coordinator, which has led to 36 draft picks, three of which were in the first round (Ryan Jensen, Taylor Ward, and Aaron Judge).

Overland spoke on his desire to win championships both on and off the field for his current and future teams.

"The championships, oh yeah, we're going to get after it and get them on the field," Overland said. "But making sure that the athletes in this program, when they leave as Bulldogs, they are truly Bulldog Born, Bulldog Bred. That's forever. So you're going to represent this program the rest of your life, and we've got to make sure we prepare them the best way."

In his first season as interim head coach, Overland led the Diamond Dogs to a 30-27 record, finishing 4th in the Mountain West regular season standings, and 3rd in the conference tournament.