Chris Tracz - Head Baseball Coach - Baseball Coaches

Chris Tracz

Title:
Head Baseball Coach
Email:
christopher.Tracz@westpoint.edu
Phone:
4938

Chris Tracz was named the 19th head coach in the 133-year history of the Army baseball program July 27, 2022. Upon four seasons at the helm, Tracz is 122-86 overall.

In 2026, Tracz led Army to its 17th regular season title in program history and his third Patriot League regular season championship across his four seasons at Army, splitting the accolade with Bucknell, while posting a 28-20 overall record and 17-9 mark in regular season league contests.

The Black Knights defeated Navy in both the baseball star series as well as in the final regular season series of the year. That—combined with an 11-3 win over Air Force on February 21—gave Army a 5-2 record against academy rivals in 2026.

Army’s 10-9 win over Merrimack on March 10—Army’s home opener—was Tracz’s 100th with the Black Knights.

On February 20, the Black Knights won their first game over a power conference opponent since 2022 and just their second SEC game in program history with a 9-5 win at South Carolina. Chris Barr homered twice for Army, and Josiah Overbeek provided both a home run at the plate and four outs on the mound to finish the game. The matchup was part of South Carolina’s Salute the Troops Weekend, which also featured Army’s win over Air Force the next day at Founders Park in Columbia, S.C.

Tracz is 10-4 in extra-inning games over his Army tenure, including a 4-1 mark across 2026 extra-inning games, while going 4-0 vs. Navy in extras since 2023.

In 2026, five Black Knights were named to the Patriot League All-League teams. INF Chris Barr, INF Thomas Schreck and RHP/OF/DH Josiah Overbeek were named to the First Team, with OF William Parker and RHP Andrew Berg being named Second Team honorees. Schreck was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, with Overbeek being named Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Schreck also earned a spot on the All-Academic Patriot League team.

Overbeek broke out as a two-way star during his freshman year in 2026, being named a semifinalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year award. The freshman from Weatherford, Texas reached base in all 46 games played as a plebe. He tied Ross Friedrick’s single-season record of 17 home runs in Army’s playoff game vs. Holy Cross on May 10, and finished the season tied for the Division I lead in walks drawn with 56.

Overbeek’s .514 OPS and .712 SLG each led the Patriot League. He also led Army in saves with five in 2026 and recorded a perfect 5-0 record on the mound over 15 pitching appearances.

Army’s .981 fielding percentage led the conference in 2026, was the best fielding percentage of any team in program history and was 15th-best nationally as of the end of Army’s season. The Black Knights played error-free baseball in 24 of 48 games in 2026.

In 2025, Tracz led the program back to the Patriot League Championship Series. Tracz won his 400th career game as a Division I Head coach April 6, 2025. The Black Knights would go on to defeat Navy in the Patriot League Semifinal Series later in the season, sweeping a pair of games May 11 in Annapolis, including a 6-5, 10-inning win in Game 3 of the series.

Despite losing key hitters Derek Berg, Sam Ruta and Braden Golinski in the 2024-25 offseason, Tracz’s club improved its batting average from ‘24 in ’25, from .274 to .279.

In 2025, RHP Andrew Berg, INF Thomas Schreck, OF/INF Chris Barr and OF William Parker were each named to the Patriot League All-Conference First Team, while OF Addison Ainsworth and C Jack Quinlan each earned Second Team accolades. Quinlan was also a Buster Posey Award semifinalist among the nation’s top collegiate catchers.

Berg earned all-league honors after transitioning from a bullpen role to a member of the starting rotation. Meanwhile, Schreck improved his batting average from .210 to .335 in 2025.

In 2025, Justin Lehman proved to be one of the country’s top two-way players, being named the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Week May 13 and a finalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year. In a season highlighted by a 142-pitch, seven inning win at Navy in Game 2 of the Patriot League Semifinals, Lehman finished the season with a 4.02 ERA and a .316 ERA. The senior also batted a blistering .524 in the postseason while recording a 1.32 postseason ERA across 13.2 innings.

In 2024, Tracz led the Black Knights to their sixth consecutive Patriot League Tournament Championship and NCAA Regional Appearance, with a berth in the NCAA Athens Regional. Earlier in the year, Army won the Baseball Star Series over Navy for the third consecutive season, with a dramatic rubber matchup victory April 28 off a Chris Barr walk-off base hit. The club then went on to defeat the Midshipmen two games to none in the best-of-three Patriot League Championship Series May 19-20.

Army was 5-2 against Navy in 2024, and also knocked off Air Force 13-2 on March 2 in Sugar Land, Texas.

The Black Knights boasted the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year in Justin Lehman, highlighted by his nine-inning, complete-game shutout win over Navy April 26.

Lehman and fellow starting pitcher Matthew Ronnebaum earned First Team Patriot League All-Conference honors, along with relief pitcher Andrew Berg, catcher Derek Berg and outfielder William Parker. Outfielder Braden Golinski and third baseman Sam Ruta also claimed All-Conference Second Team accolades.

The North Branford, Conn. native led Army to a 38-18 record in 2023 and a 21-4 Patriot League regular season mark. Highlights from the year included a series win over Air Force, a series win at NCAA Regional finalist Charlotte and a season series sweep over Navy. The Black Knights earned an NCAA Tournament appearance at the Charlottesville Regional.

Army also set a program single-season record in home runs (74) in 2023.

Tracz oversaw the development of C/1B Ross Freidrick, who signed a minor league free agent deal with the St. Louis Cardinals after the 2023 season. One year later, seniors Derek Berg, Ruta and Tanner Greshman also earned processional free agent opportunities with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Philadelphia Phillies.

Before Army, Tracz spent 13 seasons (2010-22) as the head coach at Marist College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), totaling a win-loss record of 315–282–2 (.526), and a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference coaching record of 170–117 (.592), Marist's all-time winningest coach. In his final season at Marist, he led the Red Foxes to a 29-15 record, finishing second in the MAAC, tying for its most regular season wins since 2017, the same year the Red Foxes won the MAAC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Baseball Championship Gainesville Regional. Tracz also led the Red Foxes to a nation's-best 11 game win streak at the end of the 2022 season. He was named MAAC Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.

In his time as head coach at Marist, Tracz has produced eight MLB Draft picks, one All-American, three MAAC Pitchers of the Year, eight First Team All-MAAC Selections, 18 Second Team All-MAAC Selections, 101 MAAC All-Academic honorees and six CoSIDA Academic All-District Selections.

This marks Tracz's second stint with the Black Knights, as he served as an assistant coach during the 2009 season, helping the Army pitching staff lead the Patriot League in six statistical categories including wins, ERA, shutouts, complete games, strikeouts and saves en route to a Patriot League championship.

An accomplished pitcher at Marist himself, Tracz was a three-time captain (2003, 2004, 2005), a Two-Time First Team All-Region selection and appeared in three NCAA Tournaments (2001, 2002, 2005). He compiled a career record of 38-9 with an ERA of 3.13 while striking out 298 batters in 399.2 innings. Tracz also spent the summers of 2002 and 2003 in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Falmouth Commodores.

Following his playing career, Tracz got his first coaching job as an assistant at Marist from 2006-08.

Tracz and his wife Katie live at West Point. They have two daughters, Taylor and Quinn, as well as a son, Carter, and a dog Oakley.

Tracz is the son-in-law of former Army Women’s Basketball Head Coach Dave Magarity, and the brother-in-law of Vermont Women’s Basketball Head Coach Maureen Magarity.