Alex Guerra, a former Highlander and Radford alum, enters his third season at the helm of the Radford baseball program, a position he took over in June 2022.
In their first two seasons under Guerra’s guidance, the Highlanders have experienced the ups-and-down that the game of baseball inevitably creates as the program has gone under a full rebuild under Guerra and his staff.
Despite the challenges of starting fresh, Guerra’s squad saw a six-win improvement overall in 2024 to go with a five-win improvement in Big South play. His first two seasons have been highlighted by a big win over Virginia Tech (16-8 on April 18, 2023) and victories over Longwood (two), USC Upstate (two), UNC Asheville (one), Gardner-Webb (one), Winthrop (one), Charleston Southern (one), Presbyterian (one), Iona (two), Hartford (three), VMI (two), Le Moyne (two), LIU (three), Marist (two), UNC Greensboro (one) and Queens (one).
Guerra emerged from an extremely competitive pool of head coaching candidates to be named the seventh head coach in Radford baseball history. He separated himself from the pack as someone with an undeniably strong track record of success at all levels of the game and an unrelenting passion for Radford University and its community.
Prior to making his way back to the New River Valley, Guerra spent seven years as the top assistant on Marlin Ikenberry’s staff at James Madison University. There, Guerra helped guide the Dukes through a complete rebuild which saw them produce strong results on the diamond to go with a long list of standout student-athletes. Most recently, Guerra helped the 2022 JMU squad to a 27-26 record overall, which included 12 wins in the Colonial Athletic Association. It was the most conference wins for the program since 2016. After that season, seven Dukes earned all-conference honors, and the team posted a .971 fielding percentage that stands as the second-highest mark in school history.
Notable student-athletes coached by Guerra include Chase DeLauter, who was picked in the first round (16th overall) by the Cleveland Guardians in the 2022 MLB draft, as well as Kevin Kelly and Fox Semones – a pair of Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-Americans.
Before his time at JMU, Guerra was a part of Joe Raccuia’s staff at Radford, where he returned to his alma mater to serve as an assistant coach for two seasons. With the Highlanders, Guerra was the team’s lead hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. He also worked closely with the catchers on a day-to-day basis.
The Wantagh, New York native oversaw the development of six all-conference position players, which included a pair of selections in the MLB First-Year Player Draft and Radford’s first-ever nominee for the Johnny Bench Award, given annually to the top catcher in NCAA Division I.
Prior to his return to the Highlanders, Guerra served as the Director of Baseball Operations at Central Florida, where he then moved into a volunteer assistant coach position the following season. While in Orlando, Guerra played a vital role in recruiting, budgets and travel while also coaching the outfielders and assisting with the infield, catchers and scouting reports.
Before beginning his coaching career, Guerra played two seasons at NCAA Division III Greensboro College before transferring to Radford for his final two collegiate campaigns. As a Highlander, he batted .311 and drove in 94 runs while playing second base, shortstop and third base. He also totaled 11 home runs across his junior and senior campaigns.
