Baseball Adds Lancaster, Foster, Stocum and Wilkerson to Coaching Staff for 2027

RADFORD, Va. – The Radford baseball program and head coach Alex Guerra announced Monday afternoon the addition of Seth Lancaster, Jason Foster, Nate Stocum and Colby Wilkerson to the coaching staff for the upcoming 2027 season.

"We are excited to welcome Seth, Jason, Nate, and Colby to the Radford Baseball family," commented head coach Guerra. "They are young, passionate, and knowledgeable coaches who genuinely care about player development and building meaningful relationships with our players. Each of them is an excellent communicator and brings a wealth of experience from outstanding playing careers, which will help them connect with and mentor our players. This is a great day for Radford Baseball, and we're excited about the impact they will have on our program."

SETH LANCASTER – ASSISTANT COACH & RECRUITING COORDINATOR
Lancaster returns to the Highlanders after a stint as a part of Guerra's inaugural coaching staff in 2023. He most recently served as an assistant coach at Newberry for two seasons where he primarily coached the team's hitting and infield while also serving as a recruiting coordinator.

"My wife and I are incredibly excited to be back in Radford," added Lancaster. "This is a truly special place, filled with incredible people, and we are grateful for the opportunity to return to a community that means so much to us. I want to sincerely thank (Guerra) for believing in us and giving us the opportunity to come back and be part of Radford Baseball. We are excited to invest in our players, culture, the Radford community and, most importantly, to have the opportunity to positively impact people every single day. We're excited for what's ahead and ready to get to work."

Over two seasons, Lancaster guided the Wolves to impressive offensive marks. The team improved multiple major stat categories comparing the 2025 and 2026 campaigns, including 2026 totals of runs scored (344), homers (23), slugging percentage (.375), on base percentage (.394), stolen bases (78) and RBI (309). In 2026, the team posted its first winning record since 2023 including a 19-14 record in the South Atlantic Conference.

With the Highlanders, Lancaster helped set the foundation in the program rebuild. The Highlanders boosted their offensive totals over those two seasons for batting average, homers, RBI and stolen bases. The team's record improved while five Highlanders earned All-Big South honors in 2024.

Prior to his time at Newberry and Radford, Lancaster also made coaching stops at Longwood (graduate assistant) and Georgia Southern (volunteer assistant). With the Eagles, he helped the team to a 34-23 record in 2021 and then capped his tenure in Statesboro with a 41-20 season that resulted in the hosting of an NCAA Tournament regional.

During his playing days as a student-athlete, Lancaster was a national champion with the 2016 Coastal Carolina squad. In 2018, he was named to four different All-American lists as a senior and was the top-hitting Chanticleer during their championship run, batting .444 with a team-high .744 slugging percentage. He was later drafted in the eighth round of the MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies where his playing career took him to the Williamsport Crosscutters and Lakewood BlueClaws.

JASON FOSTER – ASSISTANT COACH & PITCHING COACH
Foster comes to the New River Valley after spending last season as a coach at Wichita State. With the Shockers, Foster served as the pitching strategist and director of analytics.

"I'm incredibly excited and grateful for the opportunity to join Coach Guerra's staff and represent the Radford University baseball program. I'm looking forward to working alongside this talented group of coaches and helping elevate the program."

In 2026 with the Shockers, Foster helped guide a pitching staff that navigated a challenging American Conference schedule for a top five staff ERA in the conference. Wichita State pitchers averaged just over nine strikeouts per nine while holding opponents to just a .268 batting average, a full 20 points below Wichita State's own offensive mark. Two pitchers would also earn all-AAC honors at the end of the season.

Before landing in Wichita, Foster spent four years as a coach at Tread Athletics, a sports performance and development facility in Charlotte, N.C. While with Tread, he helped facilitate the college commitments of more than 70 athletes, the signing of more than 30 athletes to professional contracts, the selection of double digit MLB Draft picks and helped multiple athletes make their MLB debuts.

At the college level, Foster has winning experience as both a player and a coach, with three NCAA regional appearances as a player and one as a coach. A native of Grove City, Ohio, Foster was a right-handed pitcher at Wright State University from 2015-18, then spent one season at the University of Iowa after graduating from WSU. All told, Foster made 63 appearances and 11 starts in his college career, going 7-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 104.2 innings.

Foster transitioned to coaching at his alma mater, becoming Wright State's Director of Player Development in fall 2019 on the staff of head coach Alex Sogard. He served on the Raiders coaching staff through the 2021 season, guiding some of the best pitching staffs in program history. Following the 2020 COVID year, Foster helped Wright State to a tremendously successful 2021 season, earning a Horizon League tournament championship and a berth in the Knoxville Regional.

In addition to overseeing a Wright State pitching staff that posted a league-best 4.41 ERA, WSU hurlers issued the fewest walks in the Horizon (139) and allowed the lowest opponent batting average (.255). Raiders pitchers established new school records for strikeout percentage, walk percentage, and K:BB ratio, ranking top 30 nationally in all three categories. Nine members of the Raiders 2021 pitching staff went on to play professional baseball.

NATE STOCUM – ASSISTANT COACH
Stocum joins the Highlanders after a standout playing career and quick coaching stop at Western Carolina. He was a four-year Catamount that progressively developed into one of the Southern Conference's most productive hitters. As a senior in 2024, he hit .333 with 73 hits, 15 doubles, 20 home runs and 56 RBI in 54 games.

"Joining the Radford baseball coaching staff is incredibly special to me, not only because of the opportunity to coach for such a special program, but because Radford has always held a special place in my family," commented Stocum. "My mom played field hockey here, and both of her siblings followed and attended Radford as well. To now have the opportunity to be part of the Highlanders and help build something special with this program means a lot to me and my family. I'm excited to get to work, develop our players, and represent Radford the right way, R way!"

His 20 home runs tied for seventh in Western Carolina's single-season record book while finishing the year with first-team all-conference honors. Stocum's playing career would come to an end with career numbers of 41 home runs, 189 hits and 151 RBI.

Following his student-athlete days, he immediately transitioned into a role on the Catamount's coaching staff for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. As the Director of Player Development, he worked closely with offensive players by creating individualized development plans and hitting routines, assisting with outfield development, running early work and post-practice hitting and contributing to day-to-day baseball operations.

Stocum brings a strong understanding of player development from his own experience. During his playing career, he went from a walk-on with no guarantees to a first-team all-conference outfielder and team-voted captain, learning firsthand the work and development required to reach the highest level of college baseball. Now, Stocum will use his experience as a player and young coach to Radford where he will help develop hitting, outfielders and the next generation of collegiate baseball athletes.

COLBY WILKERSON – DIRECTOR OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
Wilkerson brings even more championship experience to the Highlanders, making his collegiate coaching debut after graduating from North Carolina in 2024 and spending the last two years playing for independent league teams like the Missoula PaddleHeads and Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks.

"I'm extremely thankful and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Radford Baseball and to work alongside Coach Guerra and this entire coaching staff. I'm excited for the opportunity to contribute to the Highlanders and Radford University. I'm also excited to begin my coaching career here and to help our players grow both on and off the field. Throughout my playing career, I've been fortunate to learn from a lot of great coaches, teammates and organizations. I'm looking forward to taking that knowledge and experience I've gained and using it to help our players reach their full potential."

Wilkerson boasts a strong playing career where he spent four years at North Carolina. With the Tar Heels, he was a part of the 2022 ACC Championship squad and the 2024 ACC Regular Season Champions and the 2024 NCAA Tournament where North Carolina advanced all the way to the College World Series in Omaha.

Over his playing career, he would develop into the Tar Heels starting short stop. With 191 games and 161 starts, he accumulated career numbers of a .254 batting average, 71 RBI, and a .955 fielding percentage. During his high school years, he was also a part of three high school state championship teams in Oxford, N.C.

STAY SOCIAL WITH RADFORD BASEBALL
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#RiseAndDefend

Baseball Adds Lancaster, Foster, Stocum and Wilkerson to Coaching Staff for 2027

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