Mark McQueen enters his fifth season as Coach Raccuia's top assistant and pitching coach. McQueen joined the Highlander baseball staff in August 2013
In 2015, Radford finished with a 45-16 overall record, while earning the Big South regular season and tournament championships. The Highlanders first trip to a NCAA regional can be attributed to a strong season by Highlander pitchers.
McQueen oversaw a 2015 staff that finished the year with a 3.95 ERA, the lowest in program history. Radford ranked second in the Big South, holding opposing batters to a .255 average. The Highlanders only allowed 276 runs, their lowest since the 2000 season.
With McQueen’s guidance, Ryan Meisinger put together a breakout season, leading the NCAA with 17 saves. The right-hander appeared in 31 games, recording 66 strikeouts with only 24 hits and eight walks allowed in 39.0 innings of work. Meisinger was named a finalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year award.
Michael Boyle led the Big South with a 10-3 record, while ranking second with 105.1 innings pitched. With the 10 wins, Boyle became the first Highlander to lead the league in wins, while setting a new Radford single-season record.
At the conclusion of the 2015 season, McQueen saw two of his pitchers selected in the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft. Meisinger, a 2015 First Team All-Big South selection, was a 11th round pick of the Baltimore Orioles. Boyle, a 2015 First Team All-Big South selection, was a 13th round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The success of the 2015 season continued during the 2017 season as the Highlanders played their best baseball when it mattered, outscoring opponents 29-8 in the Big South Tournament to run the table for four straight tournament wins to capture their second tournament championship in three seasons. Radford earned a trip to the NCAA Louisville Regional.
Radford matched a program record with six all-conference selections, highlighted by Big South Pitcher of the Year Zack Ridgely. The junior left-hander turned in a 7-5 record with a 2.84 ERA, striking out 85 in 95.0 innings, walking only 12 batters. Ridgely ranked ninth in the country with a 7.08 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while his 1.14 walks allowed per nine innings ranked 17th best.
Joining Ridgely on the Big South First Team were seniors Kyle Zurak and Danny Hrbek. Zurak put together a breakout campaign that earned him a semifinalist spot for the Gregg Olson Award. Zurak Yankees finished his season with a 2.40 ERA, sixth best in program history. Zurak finished with a 4-4 record and nine saves in 25 appearances with four starts. In only his third career start, Zurak tossed his first complete game in the Big South Tournament Championship, striking out nine batters on his way to being named Tournament MVP. Hrbek earned first team honors after making the transition to a two-way player for the Highlanders, stepping into the Saturday role on the mound. In his third career start, Hrbek tossed the first nine-inning no-hitter in program history with a 4-0 win over Quinnipiac on March 4. Hrbek struck out nine, falling an error shy of a perfect game.
Highlander pitchers were especially good in Big South play, ranking third with a 3.09 ERA, walking only 63 batters in 212.1 innings. Opposing conference foes only hit .241 off Highlander pitching. Zurak led the league with a 1.03 conference ERA, striking out 40 in 26.1 innings. Ridgely came in fifth with a 2.13 ERA.
At the conclusion of the 2017 season, McQueen saw two of his pitchers selected sign professional contracts. Zurak was selected in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft by the New York Yankees. Hrbek signed a non-drafted free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals.
In his first season at the helm of the Highlander pitching staff, he helped lead the Highlanders to a then school-record 33 victories in 2014. With McQueen’s guidance, Radford lowered its ERA from 4.70 in 2013 to 4.30. The Highlanders increased their strikeouts, finishing the year with 422 punch outs, an increase of 121 from 2013.
In six seasons as the head coach at Richmond, McQueen led the Spiders to more victories in each successive season culminating in a 31-24 record in 2013 and a team earned run average of 3.85. The Spiders made the Atlantic 10 championship game in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons and were one of only two programs to qualify for the A-10 Tournament each of the past three seasons.
Prior to becoming the head coach at UR, McQueen spent a total of 13 seasons as an assistant for the Spiders in two stints from 1989-2000 and for one year in 2007 before taking the reins of the program in 2008. While an assistant at Richmond, he won two conference titles and appeared in the NCAA Tournament on four occasions.
In between his times at Richmond, McQueen worked six seasons as the pitching coach at Virginia Commonwealth from 2001-06. While with the Rams, he earned the 2003 National Collegiate Baseball Pitching Coach of the Year and helped lead VCU to four NCAA Tournament berths in six seasons. In that 2003 season, McQueen's pitching staff posted a national best 2.54 ERA and a 46-13 overall record.
A total of 27 pitchers have been selected to the Major League Baseball Draft under McQueen's watch, including former Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds hurler, Sean Marshall and Cla Meredith, former closer for the Red Sox, Orioles, and Padres.
An Ankeny, Iowa native, McQueen is a 1984 graduate of Sam Houston State. He posted a perfect 7-0 record for the Bearkats in his senior season and was 13-5 in his two seasons there. He attended Iowa Western Community College for two seasons and appeared in the 1980 Junior College World Series.
McQueen signed with the Detroit Tigers organization out of college and pitched one minor league season before an elbow injury ended his playing career. McQueen has two children, a son, Travis, who was a member of the Radford team from 2014-16, and a daughter, Tara.
