Norfolk State University Athletics

Joey Seal is in his eighth season on the NSU baseball coaching staff. After serving as a volunteer in 2010 and a student assistant in 2011, Seal assumed the role of assistant coach prior to the 2012 campaign and now carries the title of associate head coach. He is directly responsible for the NSU pitching staff in addition to serving as the team’s recruiting coordinator, assisting with administrative tasks, camps and clinics, helping monitor the team’s academics, and placing current Spartan players in collegiate summer leagues.

Seal has overseen the steady improvement of NSU’s pitching staff over the last seven seasons, transforming it into one of the best in the MEAC. The statistics from the past two seasons would back up that thought, as Spartan pitchers have turned in the best performances in the program’s Division I era (since 1998). Last season, NSU led the MEAC in ERA for the second year in a row at 3.66, which was the lowest among any Division I school in the Commonwealth of Virginia and 46th nationally out of 295 teams. NSU also set a new school single-season record with 417 strikeouts, tied the school record with nine shutouts and ranked 14th in the nation with 9.0 strikeouts per nine innings. 

Led by repeat MEAC Pitcher of the Year Matt Outman, the Spartans had four All-MEAC pitchers in 2016, with Outman, MEAC ERA champion Jonathan Mauricio and reliever Alex Mauricio all earning first-team All-MEAC honors. Another reliever, Michael Parmentier, was a second-team All-MEAC pick and was 14th in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (11.44). NSU won its second straight MEAC Northern Division title, winning a school Division I record 29 games and advancing to the conference tournament championship round.

In 2015, the Spartan pitching staff led the MEAC in ERA at 4.23 and ranked fifth in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (9.0) to help the squad win its first-ever MEAC Northern Division regular-season title and finish with a 27-16 record. Outman became the school’s first MEAC Pitcher of the Year award winner since 2000 as he led the MEAC in both wins and strikeouts. Both Outman (first team) and right hander Stephen Butt (second team) earned All-MEAC honors and Outman earned second-team all-region accolades from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). The third member of NSU’s weekend staff, Devin Hemmerich, threw the school’s first no-hitter since 1996 in a win over Coppin State in early May and ranked 10th in the nation in complete games.

As a freshman in 2014, Hemmerich earned Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American honors, the second NSU pitcher to do so under Seal’s tutelage. Hemmerich, who was also a second-team All-MEAC selection in ‘14, and fellow newcomer Outman both ranked in the MEAC’s top six in ERA and junior college transfer Butt was third in the MEAC and 78th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings. Outman ranked 29th among Division I pitchers in complete games.

NSU set what was then a single-season school record with 372 strikeouts in 2011 and came close to matching that in 2012 (363) and 2015 (351). The Spartans’ staff was 20th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings in 2012 and 79th in strikeout-to-walk ratio. Pitchers Ryan VanAssche (109th) and Chris Horne (186th) both ranked in the top 200 nationally in strikeouts per nine innings. In 2013, Horne broke Seal’s single-season school record by pitching 100 innings.

In 2011, VanAssche became the school’s second-ever Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and first in Sea’s tenure. In addition, pitchers Jordan Egan (22nd) and Ryan Shook (45th) both finished in the top 50 in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings.

In Seal’s first season working with the staff (2010), the Spartans lowered their team earned run average by nearly a full run from the year before, lowering their 5.93 mark in 2010 to 5.07 in 2011. In 2012, the Spartans lowered that number even more to 4.39, the team’s best mark since 2008. 

Seal has also helped placed numerous Spartans in collegiate summer leagues such as the Coastal Plain League, the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League and the Cal Ripken League, among others. Seal also attained his first head coaching position in 2014 when he served as the manager of the Martinsville (Va.) Mustangs in the CPL. Martinsville ranked among the CPL’s top three in most offensive categories, including average, slugging, hits, on-base percentage and runs scored thanks to a roster which featured seven MLB draftees.

As a four-year standout pitcher for the Spartans from 2005-08, Seal’s fingerprints are all over the NSU record book. Seal completed his career as the school’s all-time leader in innings pitched (334), strikeouts (269) and appearances (78). Seal was a second-team All-MEAC selection as a relief pitcher as a junior in 2007, when he recorded four saves and fanned 75 hitters in 84 innings. 

Seal enjoyed his best season as a senior in 2008, when he went 7-4 with a 3.69 ERA in 97.2 innings pitched as the Spartans’ No. 1 starting pitcher. He helped pitch the Spartans to the MEAC Tournament championship round that season for the second time in his four-year career. Also in 2008, Seal was named to the watch list for the Roger Clemens Award, given annually to the top pitcher in the nation. Seal was also selected the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Pitcher of the Week after pitching a school-record 11 scoreless innings in a no-decision against Lafayette.

Seal, a Newport News, Va. native, earned his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from NSU. He and his wife, the former Kelli North, reside in Chesapeake and have one daughter, Andee.