Ruechel enters his third year as the Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator along with running the Big Blue offense and coaching third base.
Under Ruechels guidance The Big blue have broken the school record for team wins in back to back seasons as well as making back to back trips to the HBCU World series.
On the offensive side in year two of guiding the offense Ruechel lead the Big Blue to another record breaking year. In two season under ruechel the big blue offense has broke a combined 21 offensive program records
2023 Program records broken.
•Team Records : Team batting average (.300) , Stolen bases (102), Total runs (320) , Total hits (445) , Triples (12) , On base percentages (.394), OPS (.827)
•Individual Records : , Highest batting average (Tahir Meulens - .405) , Hits in a season (Tahir Meulens – 70) , 2nd single season home runs (Jordan Varela – Payne – 11) , Doubles (Tahir Meulens – 21) , Longest hit streak (Dillion Sullivan – 15 games) , Most hits in a game (Curtis Ball – 6)
Under Ruechels guidence both Jordan Varela-Payne and Tahir Meuhlens both received all- region post season honors
In his first year as hitting coach the Big Blue broke many program records on their way to breaking the team win record and making the HBCU World series.
2022 Program Records broken
o Team records: 1st in program history in Homeruns, Doubles, Triples, Slugging %, Runs scored, Batting Average, Stolen Bases
o Individual records: On the individual side records were broken as well in homeruns, doubles, and triples.
In the home run category Ty Sizemore broke the single season record in homeruns (14), Cole Cote finished 2nd (10) and Jordan Varela-Payne finished 5th (7) in single season home runs.
In the doubles category Brayden Merrick finished 1st in program history with 14 doubles and Jordan Varela-Payne finished 2nd in program history with 13 doubles.
In the triples category Jordan Varela-Payne finished 1st in program history with 7 triples.
Ruechel comes to Bluefield after spending a year at Division one Syracuse University where he served on the softball coaching staff as the infield and hitting coach. While under his guidance the infield finished first in program history in fielding percentage.
Prior to Syracuse Ruechel spent one season at Division one University at Buffalo as the Hitting coach.
Before buffalo Ruechel spent two years at Division one UNC-Wilmington as the Seahawks hitting coach. Under his guidance the seahawks saw a largest increase in offensive production making their mark in the UNCW history books in many offensive categories such as homeruns (3rd) doubles (3rd), Slugging Pct. (3rd) walks (4th), triples (6th) and runs scored (10th).
Before making the jump to softball Ruechel had stints in college baseball.
Prior to the jump he was on the baseball staff at Averett University in Danville, Va., as the recruiting coordinator and hitting/infield coach for the Cougars.
Ruechel began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant baseball coach at Indiana Wesleyan University(NAIA) where he worked with hitters and catchers. The Wildcats finished 15th in the country in homeruns (68) and homeruns per game (1.19 per game) finishing first in the Crossroads League conference in home runs. Along with the homeruns they finished 24th in the country in triples with 13. Overall, the Wildcat offense compiled a .292 average with 94 doubles, 13 triples, 68 homeruns, 455 overall hits and 344 total runs.
A native of Wisconsin, Ruechel played college baseball at Rock Valley College before completing his career at St. Ambrose University. Ruechel graduated from St. Ambrose University in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in Sport Management.
