Ludman Brothers Look to Make an Impact on 2024 Baseball Season

NEWARK, Del. - As the 2024 season approaches for the University of Delaware baseball, the program has one of the most unique team dynamics in the NCAA.

This past fall, head baseball coach Greg Mamula brought in Chris Ludman to be an assistant coach to work with the team's pitching staff. Chris' brother, Eric Ludman, is an infielder for the baseball team, making them one of the only brother coach-player duos in the country.

This isn't the first time the two brothers were on the Delaware baseball program. Chris and Eric played for the Blue Hens under the legendary coach Jim Shermann from 2020-2022.

During their time under Coach Sherman, the Blue Hens played Mamula's former team at Florida Atlantic. The squads faced off in 2020, and in 2022. In the first meeting, Chris pitched 3.2, gave up eight hits, and had four strikeouts in an 8-4 loss. However, in 2022, Chris had an outing of 6.2 innings, allowed four runs off eight hits, and struck out two batters en route to an 8-5 victory over the Owls.

"Having coached here previously and then having a good relationship with coach Sherman and coach (Dan) Hammer, I've always followed Delaware baseball, even when I wasn't coaching here," Mamula said. "I've always known their players, watched their games, and followed their season. So, I knew who Chris was being one of, if not, the best pitchers on that staff. I remember he threw really well in the year we beat (Delaware), which was in 2020. And then in 2022 he beat us on the opening night of the season. He was competitive and his stuff was really good."

Both Chris and Eric grew up in the Newark area. They both played a variety of sports throughout their childhood. The main sports the two played were soccer, basketball and baseball, and played football in high school.

"Both of our parents are huge sports fanatics. They love playing and watching sports," Chris said. "Since the day we could walk, we played anything with a ball and played as many sports as we could until we had to pick one, and baseball was the one we were better at."

"For me, (Chris) played sports while we were growing up and my dad played baseball too," Eric said. "Baseball is just the sport that stuck with us, even though we played other sports. When we got to high school, I discovered I was pretty decent at (baseball) and wanted to see what I could do with it."

The two went to St. Mark's high school, just 20 minutes down the road, which laid the foundation for their baseball careers. While Chris was a freshman, he went on to win the state championship while at St. Mark's, while Eric went to the state semifinals twice.

"It's one of the best high school baseball programs in the state. They have a lot of state championships there, and I was fortunate enough to win there," Chris said. "Being in a great baseball program, they teach you how to play the right way. One of our assistant coaches played at Delaware. So, a few of the things we did at St. Mark's, I think he took (those ideas) from Delaware. When I got here, I saw the baseball program was doing some of the same stuff that we did at St. Mark's, so that made it a pretty easy transition."

While both brothers ended up playing for UD, they both had two different stories for how they became Blue Hens.

"I was under recruited, didn't really get that much attention and never really focused that much on baseball in high school. I was playing all these other sports. I was lucky enough to talk to Coach Sherman a couple of times and he watched me play a couple of times and was able to get a walk-on spot here," Chris said.

"I knew that I wanted to play with Chris here at Delaware because I thought it would be a cool experience," Eric said. "I did hit a home run off Joey Sillian, a former pitcher of ours, in the state semifinals, and Coach Sherman called me a week or so later because he was there watching Joey pitch. He called me, offered me a spot on the team, and I said yes on the spot."

Since joining the staff this past fall, Chris has been a big asset to the team and helping the pitching staff develop.

"We have 19 pitchers, and to have two pitching coaches is big. It allows us to individualize our players, like with their pitching routine. Chris' calming demeanor is going to help us as well. When he's out in the bullpen and getting our relievers ready to come into the game, a calming presence is going to help, especially early in the season, there's going to be a lot of anxiety for some of our young pitchers," Mamula said.

Last season, Eric appeared in 34 games, and made nine starts. He garnered 10 hits, one home run and seven runs batted in. He is someone who is going to be a big depth piece for the Blue Hens this spring.

"Eric last year was our first pinch hitter off the bench, and had some huge pinch hits," Mamula said. "He had a walk-off base hit against Charleston in extra innings, and he hit a huge home run for us in a game where we were trailing against Towson late in the year. He had a lot of pinch hit walks to lead off the inning, which is one of his greatest assets, he's got a really good eye, and his knack for working the count. I see him filling a similar role for us again this year. And everyone in this program loves and admires him, and his work ethic. He's the first one on the field, first one in the cage hitting, and a great teammate. He's always happy, always in a good mood, and he's one of those people who make everyone on this program better."

As the season approaches, with Delaware's first game taking place on Friday, Feb. 16 against North Florida, the two have high aspirations for what they want to accomplish for the season.

"The goal is to win the CAA, go to regionals, or get an at-large bid," Eric said. "Coach Mamula has instilled into our mindset since last year just to find a way to turn this program around, and that we can win (the CAA). We've been a .500 team my first three years here. We made a decent run in the conference tournament last year, so we have to replicate that and go a little farther and win it all."

"This program made great strides last year, and coach Mamula has done a great job," Chris said. "So, we're looking to build off last year. With the addition of Campbell, our conference got that much stronger. To be able to compete in a very competitive conference and the goal is to win a championship, and make a regional. That's what you play the game"

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