Bob Mumma, UMBC Retrievers

College Baseball Now

Bob Mumma is in his sixth season as head coach of the UMBC Retrievers baseball program. In late May 2017, the Retrievers won the America East Baseball Tournament with a walk-off walk to defeat Maine in the championship game.

After a stellar collegiate career at UMBC and two seasons of professional baseball, Mumma returned to his alma mater in the fall of 1996 and served as the Retrievers’ assistant baseball coach for the past 15 seasons. Since taking over the program, the team has seen the best winning percentage increase of any program in the country. Mumma has coached three Freshman All-Americans (Kevin Lachance, Jamie Switalski, Matt Chanin), had the America East Pitcher of the Year in Conrad Wozniak (2015), and Rookie of the Year (Chanin, 2015). Over his four years at the helm, Mumma and his staff have placed seven players on the all-conference first team, with eight on second team and all-rookie team.

“We have an extraordinary staff who focuses a lot on player development,” Mumma said. “Our players are driven and have high expectations of themselves.”

“I am excited about how far we have come in a short period of time,” Mumma said . “The goal is to win a regular season title and earn a spot in the conference tournament every year.”

The Retrievers posted a 23-23 record in 2017 and earned a spot in the Winston-Salem Regional.

Mumma succeeded John Jancuska, who coached the Retrievers from 1978-2011. Tom Rider (1967-75) and Hal Sparks (1976-77) are the only other coaches to pilot the UMBC baseball team in the program’s 46 years of varsity competition.

“I am extremely excited to have this opportunity,” Mumma said. “Other than trying to be a Major League player, it was my dream to be a head coach, and once I got into coaching, this was where I wanted to be a head coach.

The Rising Sun, Md., native competed as a catcher at UMBC from 1990-92. In his freshman campaign, Mumma slugged 14 home runs and hit .339, earning a place on the Coppertone Freshman All-America squad. The following season, he hit .395 with 15 round-trippers and 53 RBIs, earning Player of the Year honors from the East Coast Conference. He was also named to the ECAC, All-East Region and East Coast Conference first teams. Mumma capped his collegiate career by hitting .346 with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs in 1992, as the Retrievers earned an at-large bid and competed in their first NCAA Division I tournament.

Mumma earned East Coast Conference First Team honors in 1992 and was also named to the GTE Academic All-America squad.

He was drafted in the 13th round by the Chicago White Sox in June 1992 and signed a professional contract with the club. The backstop completed his economics degree in May 1993 and played for two years in the White Sox system.

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