The winningest coach in Union baseball history and one of the most successful in any sport at Union College,
Paul Mound completed his 13th season at the helm of the Union College baseball team in 2023, having built up the Dutchmen into one of the top teams in the region and a perennial postseason contender.
Mound has presided over the most prolific string of success in program history, including three Liberty League championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances, seven All-America selections, and the six highest single-season win totals in school annals.
In 2022, Mound won his 227th game at the helm of the Dutchmen, surpassing Art Lawrence for the most ever for a baseball coach at Union. At the conclusion of the 2023 season, Mound's 249 career victories are the fifth-most of any coach in a single sport at Union.
Mound also is in his second year as a member of the Division III Baseball Championship Committee, serving as the Region III (New York) national representative and the chair of the New York Regional Advisory Committee. Mound is one of six coaches and one of 10 individuals elected to the national position.
Mound led the Dutchmen to six consecutive 20-win seasons from 2013-18, including three of the program's four all-time NCAA Tournament appearances. A 2017 Amsterdam Baseball Hall of Fame and New York State Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, Mound became one of only 10 Union coaches to earn 200 career victories with a win over Skidmore on May 5, 2019 and his .559 winning percentage (249-196-1) is the highest among all Union skippers with at least 50 games coached.
Mound led Union to a historic 2018 season, in which the Dutchmen won a program-best 31 games and won its first game at the modern-day NCAA Tournament with a 10-3 victory over Arcadia at the 2018 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. Individually, Union boasted the Liberty League Player, Pitcher and Rookie of the Year as well as a program-record eight All-Conference honorees and the Liberty League Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The 2016 team went 26-14 to earn the program's second NCAA Tournament berth in three years, a second Liberty League Tournament title in three years, and Union's third regular-season championship in four seasons. Junior pitcher Jake Fishman led the entire NCAA in earned run average and was the program's first ever ABCA and D3baseball.com All-American in addition to earning All-Region recognition for the third year in a row and Liberty League Player of the Year honors.
Following his outstanding junior campaign, Fishman was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 30th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft, adding another program first to his resume as the first player from Union taken in the MLB Draft. Fishman became the first Union player ever to
pitch in the Olympics in 2021 and later became the first Union player to reach the Major Leagues in 110 years, earning a call up from the Miami Marlins and
taking the hill against the New York Mets on July 31, 2022.
In 2014, Mound guided the program to its first Liberty League Tournament championship and earned the program's first berth in the NCAA Division III Regional Championships with a second straight 26-win campaign. Fishman captured Liberty League and D3Baseball.com Regional Rookie of the Year honors and joined Sam Caruso on the D3baseball.com All-New York Regional First Team.
Union's recent run of success started in 2013, when the Dutchmen won a then-record 26 games and reached the finals of the Liberty League Tournament. Mound was named the conference Coach of the Year as the Dutchmen earned the top seed in the conference with a 20-6 Liberty League mark, the most conference wins in a season in program history, while outfielder Tyler Heck was named the program's first ABCA All-Region first-team selection.
Prior to arriving at Union, Mound spent 12 years as the head coach and general manager of the Saratoga Stampede. He posted a 483-151 record with the Stampede and led the American Legion team to a top-eight finish in New York State in three of the last four seasons. The team won its district twice and his 2010 team went 35-8 and won the New York State Championship.
His other coaching responsibilities include serving as the head coach and player development for Saratoga Central Catholic High School since 2007 and the head varsity soccer coach for SUNY Adirondack since August. Mound, who coached the Saratoga Thunder Softball Program from 1995-99, has also been the director of the Saratoga Summer Baseball Camps since 2006.
Coach Mound's Career Record At A Glance
2011: 14-19 (10-14)
2012: 18-22 (12-16)
2013: 26-13 (20-6)
2014: 26-12-1 (14-6-1)
2015: 21-15 (13-11)
2016: 26-14 (15-7)
2017: 21-15 (14-7)
2018: 31-13 (17-6)
2019: 18-21 (14-10)
2020: 5-3 (N/A)
2021: 12-8 (9-5)
2022: 16-18 (9-12)
2023: 15-23 (6-13)
Overall: 249-196-1 (.559)
Liberty League: 153-113-1 (.575)
