CHARLESTON, S.C. – This past May, Charleston Southern Baseball rounded out its first season with assistant pitching coach Karl Kuhn. In a 2023 campaign highlighted by strides made on the mound, the Buccaneers reached levels rarely achieved over the past 20 seasons thanks in large part to the leadership and contributions of the team's first year assistant – Kuhn.

His "formula"? Creatively leveraging each player at his disposal to maximize the squad's probability of winning.

The result? A bolstered staff across the board highlighted by improvements in each statistical category compared to the year prior.

To sum it up – significant progress.

Kuhn arrived at CSU in the Fall of 2022 fresh off his first head coaching stop at Radford University. Before his time with the Highlanders, Kuhn served as pitching coach at the University of Virginia for 16 years, where he helped elevate the Cavaliers to one of the premier programs in the country including a National Championship in 2015.

"Having known Karl for approximately 20 years, I was looking to hire a Pitching Coach and he was available. The opportunity to have one of the best, in any profession, join your team is rare. Having a leader, teacher, and mentor with Karl's resume come back to CSU where it all started, well, it's special for both him and us," shared Head Coach Marc MacMillan.

Kuhn wasn't sure what 2023 would hold for him, but the opportunity to return to the school where he first coached at the NCAA Division I level proved too enticing to pass up.

"From the moment that I was approached by Coach MacMillan, the entire staff – Athletic Director Jeff Barber and President Dondi Costin, amongst all others – everyone has just been so supportive and welcoming to myself and my family."

From the start, it was clear that Kuhn was in place to lead and mentor a pitching staff that posted a 6.73 team ERA in 2022, ranking 7th in the 11-team Big South and the bottom-quarter of all programs at the D1 level. With only seven returning arms for 2023, the right coach was vital.

Enter Kuhn. 

Coming into the job, Kuhn decided the best thing to do was to take a few weeks and see what kind of horses were in the stable…then decide on a way to manage the staff. The decision to define roles - no matter how small or how big - and hold each pitcher accountable for their outing or role were implemented. Thus, a selfless pitching staff for the 2023 season was born.
 
"Basically, we tried to put people in the best possible situation to be successful, which in turn would put our team in the best possible position to be successful," said Kuhn.

With the entire staff's support, Kuhn started implementing it during the fall season, and quickly, the pitchers began to fully buy into the concept with a commitment to explore what this could end up looking like.
 
"The pitchers were incredibly receptive and appreciative of all of the things that we've tried to help them with throughout the fall and into the spring as we were competing, If they don't buy in to us but instead are consumed with themselves, none of this would have been possible," continued Kuhn.
 
As the spring season played out, each competition entailed unique game plans and its implementation in terms of how the staff would be managed. The Bucs had nine different pitchers start at least one game. In all, 11 pitchers threw in 10 or more games throughout the year – even sometimes multiple times in a weekend series – with everyone possessing the mentality to do whatever was needed to help maximize success.

After opening season at the University of Florida, who went on to become the 2023 national runner-up, the Buccaneers bounced back to win three of their next four games. Those victories were then followed by a home series win against Marshall. The season continued with multiple highs along the way, including CSU becoming the only Big South school to earn three consecutive Power 5 victories - the backend of a doubleheader on March 11 against Georgia with a 5-4 decision followed with two wins over Kansas by scores of 5-3 and 12-4 on March 14 and 15, respectively.

In less than a year, Kuhn was able to help mentor the pitchers to new statistical heights as his staff ranked in the top half of the Big South in ERA - close to a run better than in 2022. The team posted wins over three of the four teams that qualified for the Big South Conference Tournament finishing fifth in the standings and only one win shy of earning back-to-back bids to Fayetteville. Their top-five finish did equal 2022's result – tying the best conference standing since 2011 (T-3^rd). It also marked only the third time posting a top-five finish in the regular-season standings in the last 20 years.

In Big South play, Kuhn's arms lowered the team ERA by two full runs (6.47 in 2022 v. 4.44 in 2023). This improvement saw the Buccaneer's pitching staff finish with the third-best ERA in conference play. In addition, his staff held opposing batters to a .253 average which was second-best in the conference.

Charleston Southern also led the conference in strikeouts-to-walk ratio ranking 89^th in the nation.

"While ERA is always going to be a benchmark for statistical success, the individual transformation was incredibly gratifying as a coach," said Kuhn. "The development of each player jumps off the page when you look at each of the returner's numbers from last year. I feel very fortunate they allowed me to help them grow."
 
Daniel Padysak (SR/RHP) led the team in ERA at 3.19 and ranked as one of the top arms in the conference. He slashed his ERA nearly in half from a season ago while lowering his opposing batting average against by almost .100 points. Padysak also represented his home country of the Czech Republic at the World Baseball Classic. There are not many people in college baseball with the same resume as Coach Kuhn. The numbers speak for themselves.

"Not only did Coach Ks teach us how to pitch, but he also taught us to handle different situations on and off the field. Me and the rest of the Charleston Southern Baseball Program were extremely fortunate to have him as a part of our team," said senior righty Daniel Padysak.

"We were so fortunate to have a veteran pitcher like Pady to be able to lead by example," Kuhn noted. "It was important to let the alphas of the pitching staff really lead this group and push each other and the staff to be the best they could be. And that is exactly what they did."

The team also saw great leadership from Evan Truitt, who picked up five wins and led the team in innings pitched with 68.1. He pitched at least five innings in eight of his outings and had a 2.87 ERA against league competition - third lowest in the Big South. Kaleb Hill also stood out as another top arm for the team throwing 51.2 innings on the season while making nine starts over 18 appearances. Hill lowered his season ERA by nearly a whole point from the previous year. "One thing about Coach Kuhn is his persistence for excellence.  Not only for myself but for the entire staff. He wants each single player to get better every day at practice. I've learned how to pitch mechanically but more importantly, mentally. I can go to a baseball game and read hitters and their tendencies like never before," said Hill.

Zac Robinson made the biggest year-to-year jump for Charleston Southern lowering his ERA from 9.48 to 4.89 and his WHIP from 1.79 to 1.37. In the process, opponents' batting average went from .313 to .226. Kuhn also helped in Sam Massey's development from a reliever to a weekend starter for the staff. He started in all 13 games that he toed the rubber and doubled his number of innings pitched a season ago to 39.1.

For 2024, six pitchers are back from last spring's squad. The coaches are bringing in several new arms with the expectation to continue Kuhn's selfless pitching concept, and everyone doing what it takes to make the team successful.

In the meantime, Kuhn will continue to build off of the success from his 2023 pitching staff while working with the staff and entire team to bring Charleston Southern its first Big South title since 1996, which was – ironically or not – his first stint as a CSU assistant coach.

The Buccaneers will open their fall season on Friday,  September 22 with three games scheduled in October. For more information, follow the Bucs online and/or our social media outlets.