Bio

Mathew Bair enters the 2023-24 season in his seventh year as the Anderson University head baseball coach.

The Ravens have qualified for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) postseason in each season since Bair took the helm of the Anderson Baseball Program. Coach Bair celebrated his 100th victory in his fourth complete season at AU. The Ravens have earned at least 20 wins in each full season of Coach Bair's tenure.

Bair has mentored American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Fourth-Team All-American Justin Reed, College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Third-Team Academic All-American Joe Moran and ABCA Gold Glove All-Region recipient Grahm Reedy. Since 2017, the Ravens have been awarded 31 HCAC All-Conference honors, including the 2018 Conference Pitcher-of-the-Year (John Becker), the 2019 Conference Player-of-the-Year (Joe Moran), the 2022 Newcomer of the Year (Jake Stank) and nine total first-team all-conference recipients. During Bair's tenure, the Ravens have totaled eight ABCA all-region selections, six D3baseball.com all-region selections, 21 conference player-of-the-week selections, nine D3baseball.com team-of-the-week selections, eight HCAC all-tourament selections and 42 academic all-HCAC recipients.

Anderson received votes in the D3baseball.com national coaches’ poll during the 2020 season. In 2023, Anderson finished in the top 50 in the nation in doubles per game (17th), slugging percentage (23rd), batting average (29th), home runs per game (38th) and scoring (49th). The Ravens ranked in the top 10 in the country in stolen bases per game from 2019-2021, finishing eighth in 2019, fourth in 2020 and fifth in 2021. Anderson has ranked in the top 20 in the nation across several offensive and defensive categories including stolen bases, doubles, walks, fielding percentage, and double plays. In 2020, the Ravens finished in the top 50, nationally, in ERA, fewest hits allowed per nine innings, strikeouts per nine innings and WHIP.

During the 2018 season, Nick Butcher finished the season ranked second in the nation with 23 doubles, as well as fifth in the nation with 84 hits. In 2019 Joe Moran, became the first NCAA Division III player in the state of Indiana to sign a contract to play in the Cape Cod Baseball League. During the 2021 season, Branton Sanders ranked in the top 10 in the nation in runs per game, stolen bases per game, on-base percentage and hit by pitches per game. The Anderson Baseball Program has also been recognized in each of Coach Bair's seasons by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) with the Team Academic Excellence Award maintaining an accumulative team GPA above 3.0.

Bair started his coaching career in 2001 under Hall of Fame coach Don Brandon at Anderson University, specializing in hitting instruction, infield play and base running. In 2003, Coach Bair helped the Ravens achieve a third-place finish at the NCAA Division III College World Series. In 2006, he became the head baseball coach at Cowan High School before moving back home to coach Anderson Highland through their consolidation in 2010. Prior to joining the Ravens, Coach Bair was involved with Team USA at the National Team Identification Series (NTIS) in Cary, N.C., coached with the Indiana Bulls and was the head coach at Lapel High School.

Coach Bair earned his bachelor's degree in education at Anderson University (2001) and his Master's degree at Ball State in Athletic Administration (2005). He is an alumnus of the Anderson University Baseball Program and during his playing career won three NCAA Division III conference championships, one NCAA Mid-East Regional championship and played in the 1998 NCAA Division III College World Series.