ASHLAND, Va. – Fall practice is underway for the Randolph-Macon baseball team, under the watchful eye of Head Coach Ray Hedrick and his newly-developed staff.

"It's kind of strange to say for someone who coaches a spring/summer sport," Hedrick said, "but I really enjoy the fall and the opportunity it presents to work with our student-athletes. Weather tends to be perfect from a temperature and precipitation standpoint which allows us 20+ days of limited interruption of player development and the implementation of team concepts."

With the Richmond Flying Squirrels announcing the commemorative goodbye to the iconic ballpark, the Yellow Jackets and Rams will be among the last to play at The Diamond. The exhibition between Randolph-Macon and Virginia Commonwealth University, consisting of 12 controlled innings, will take place on Saturday, October 18 at 1:00 p.m.

Fall practice will culminate with the annual Kathryn Stephens Classic. The best-of-three series between the Lemon team and the Black squad will be played the weekend of Oct. 31-Nov. 2 on Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park. Specific dates and times will be announced soon. All games are open to the public and admission is free.

Kathryn Stephens was the First Lady of RMC Baseball. She passed away in the fall of 2017 after nearly 70 years of support and service to RMC and to the Yellow Jacket baseball program. She was married to longtime RMC head coach and Director of Athletics Hugh Stephens. Mrs. Stephens also worked in the RMC Bookstore for many years.

This past season, the Yellow Jackets earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship and hosted a Regional for the first time in program history, earning the No. 2 seed in the Ashland Regional. RMC recorded its fifth ever 30-win season with a 31-17 record, after a 1-2 showing in the Regional. The Yellow Jackets had 33 wins in 2024, 32 in 2023, 38 in 2018 and 35 in 2016. Randolph-Macon finished as the runner-up in the ODAC Championship and placed third in the Ashland Regional.