Bender begins his first season as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Francis Marion University.
Bender earned an associate of arts degree from South Florida State College in 2014, a B.S. degree in psychology from Alabama State University in 2016, and a M.S,. degree in coaching from the University of the Cumberlands in 2020. He also did undergraduate work at Long Island University Brooklyn.
He was a member of the baseball team for one season each at LIU Brooklyn and South Florida State, and spent two seasons on the diamond at Division I Alabama State.
He began his coaching career as an assistant at Ida Baker High School in 2017. He then spent one year on the staff at Indian River State College, while also working as a coach in the Southwest Florida Baseball for five summers (2017-2021).
He moved up to the four-year collegiate ranks in 2018 and was an assistant (pitching coach) at the University of the Cumberlands for the 2019, 2020, and 2021 seasons. Bender immediately elevating the Patriots' pitching staff, and in both 2019 and 2021 helped produce the conference Pitcher of the Year. In 2020, the Patriots pitching staff ranked in the top ten in the NAIA in both opponent batting average (.215) and earned run average (3.080), while ranking 23rd in total batters struck out before the COVID-19 shutdown. In 2021, the Cumberland staff was one of the most dominant in all of NAIA -- breaking the school’s strikeout record for a single season (510) and ranking third nationally for team ERA (3.39) and seventh in total batters struck out.
For the past three seasons, he has been the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia Southwestern State University. The Hurricanes recorded 96 wins in those three seasons and made one appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
In his first year (2022), the Hurricanes led the Peach Belt Conference in ERA, strikeouts, opponents batting average, and fewest home runs allowed. The staff also shattered the school record for strikeouts in a season by more than 100. He helped develop the program’s first-ever first-team All-American pitcher, and a GSW hurler won the first of three consecutive PBC Pitcher of the Year awards. In 2023, the Hurricanes led the PBC in pitching and broke the same school record punch outs in a season. Two pitchers earned All-Region recognition and GSW won a school-record 34 games and captured the PBC regular-season and tournament titles. Last season (2024), GSW won 35 games. Bender helped recruit an offense that not only led the PBC in almost every major category, but also finished 15th in Division II in hits and 16th in runs per game. Three of the Hurricane pitchers garnered All-Conference honors, and two ranked third and seventh nationally in Division II in total strikeouts. For the third straight year, the staff broke the program's single-season strikeout record by fanning 518 hitters in only 53 games.Â
(7-2024)
