Fall season went well for the Florida A&M Baseball program, however, the team was without 2 players that were huge contributors to their 2023 SWAC Championship season. Sebastian Grieco, who set a new FAMU record with 17 HR’s last season, missed the entire fall with an oblique injury; and Ty Jackson, the teams leading hitter and on-base percent leader, broke his ankle in the fall. Both should be ready to go once the 2024 season begins.
The FAMU offense returns all but 2 starters and according to Head Coach Jamey Shouppe “we feel that we have recruited well to fill those voids. Our pitching will be without Hunter Viets and Zach Morea, but we have added much needed quality depth to our pitching staff. We have also added two coaches, former FAMU players Tucker Rayburn and Jeremiah McCollum to our coaching staff. Both were part of the 2019 MEAC Championship team.”
Both former Rattlers bring experience to the coaching staff. Rayburn and McCollum knows coach Shouppe system. They are destine to assist Shouppe to back-to-back SWAC championships and repeat appearance into the NCAA tournament. Rayburn will work with Assistant Coach Brett Richardson with infield at first base, hitting instructor and work with the catchers while McCollum will command the pitching staff.
Florida A&M looks destined to a return trip to the NCAA regionals. Last year they rallied on the road in the final weekend of the regular season posting big wins in the SWAC tournament upsetting Alabama State then defeating Bethune Cookman in the conference championship game. The Rattlers had chances to upset both Florida Gators and the University of Connecticut in the Gainesville Regional, both games they lost but had there chances for a national upset win.