Chandler Rose is entering his third season as the head coach of the University of Montevallo baseball program.

The Falcons have steadily improved under coach Rose’s leadership over the past two seasons despite playing one of the countries toughest schedules both seasons. The Falcons faced ranked opponents in 25 of their 53 games in 2012 including three games against eventual National Championship game finalist Delta State University.

UM picked up 10 of its 25 wins against ranked opponents including a sweep of 12th-ranked Francis Marion University (3), a pair of wins over #5 UNC Pembroke (2), a win over #15 Southern Indiana (1), a win of #25 Armstrong (1), a win over #26 Columbus State (1), a win of #4 Tusculum (1) and a postseason victory over #13 USC Aiken (1).

Rose led the Falcons to their first winning season in Peach Belt Conference play with a 16-14 mark. It was an eight win improvement over his first season at the helm in PBC play. Overall the Falcons won three more games than last year as they ended with a 25-28 overall record. The Falcons won four conference series including their first two sweeps in PBC play over #12 Francis Marion University and Augusta State University.

UM finished second in the PBC West Division which is the highest finish ever for the Falcons in PBC play and is the highest overall finish since 2007 when the Falcons finished second in the Gulf South Conference East Division.

Rose led the Falcons to a 22-26 record in his first season and spear-headed a dramatic improvement for the Falcons in wins and most offensive, defensive and pitching categories. He helped guide the Falcons to nine wins over ranked opponents and added nine more wins to the 2010 total while subtracting ten losses.

The seventh head coach in program history, Rose came to Montevallo after spending the previous four seasons as head assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the Air Force Academy. Prior to his time at the Academy he spent one season as the assistant at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Throughout his career, Rose has coached three players who have gone on to play in Major League Baseball including Casey Coleman (Chicago Cubs), Danny Worth (Detroit Tigers), and Lucas Duda (New York Mets).

Rose was responsible for the AFA infielders and hitters. He also handled the third base coaching duties, summer ball placement for returning players and was heavily involved in the nation-wide recruiting effort. With his Florida background, Rose was primarily responsible for recruiting the southeast region.

Since his arrival at the Academy the Falcons batting average went from .249 in 2007 to .301 in 2010. The .301 average is the highest it has been at the Academy since 2003. Air Force led the nation in triples per game in 2008.

Air Force has also posted three of its best four fielding years in school history since Rose began working with the Falcon infield. The 2010 squad finished with a school record .958 fielding percentage, surpassing the .957 mark set by the 2008 and 1979 team. The 2009 team fielded .955.

In 2009, designated hitter Matt Alexander became Air Force's first First Team All-American under Rose's guidance, earning first-team All-NCBWA honors. Freshman Garrett Custons, who Rose recruited out of Sarasota, Fla., currently holds five Air Force freshman records and ranks in the top three in nine freshman categories. Custons was also named a Freshman All-American.

Rose is a 2004 graduate of the University of Central Florida, where he was a two-year letterwinner. Rose was an Atlantic Sun All-Conference selection his junior year as a shortstop and helped lead UCF to the Atlantic Sun Championship and played in the championship of the Tallahassee Regional.

Rose began his collegiate playing career at the University of New Orleans playing for the Privateers as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to UCF.

The Fort Myers, Fla., native got his coaching start as an assistant for the Winter Park Diamond Dogs of the Florida Collegiate League in 2005. Rose has also worked at the University of Florida, UCF and FGCU summer baseball camps.

In his first year as an assistant at Florida Gulf Coast, Rose helped lead FGCU to a 41-17 record and a trip to the NCAA Div. II South Regional in 2006.

Rose also spent time coaching in the Northwoods League and was named Coach of the Year in 2007.

Rose is married to his wife Sara and they have a son, Levi.

Erik Maas is entering his third year as the top assistant coach for the University of Montevallo baseball program. Maas serves as the pitching coach and was recently promoted to associate head coach.

The Falcons pitching staff continued to improve under coach Maas’ leadership as they led the team to its first winning record in Peach Belt Conference play in 2012 increasing their conference record from 8-16 in 2011 to 16-14 in 2012.

In his first season, Maas redirected the Falcon pitching staff and helped them drop their team ERA from 8.32 to 5.37 and was instrumental in developing a crew that allowed 152 fewer runs, 68 fewer hits and 83 fewer walks than the season before his arrival.

He came to Montevallo after spending the three previous years as manager of the Alexandria Beetles of the Northwoods League. He was also the Director of Operations for the Beetles the past two seasons.

He began his coaching career at Flagler College after spending two seasons as a pitcher for the Saints. He was the junior varsity pitching coach and varsity assistant for the 2003 season. He then accepted the assistant coach position at the University of North Alabama where he coached for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons. Maas then took a position at Tennessee Wesleyan College as the head assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the 2007 season.

Starting in the summer of 2004 Maas began working with the Alexandria Beetles as a pitching coach and spent the next five summers within the organization as a pitching coach, manager and most recently the director of operations.

While at Alexandria he helped set the franchise record for wins twice, 2005 as the assistant and 2006 as the head coach. He is ranked ninth All-Time in Northwoods League history in victories (103) and 13th in overall win percentage (.529) as head coach. He helped develop 36 players into professional baseball, including six players who went on to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) (Casey Coleman, Allen Craig, Lucas Duda, Nick Hundley and Danny Worth and Bryan Holaday).

As head assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Tennessee Wesleyan College he helped guide the team to a 46-14 record, an AAC championship, AAC tournament championship and Regional Runner-up. He was part of the first team in AAC history to go undefeated in conference regular season and tournament play (21-0). TWC finished the year ranked seventh in the country. He assisted in the development of five players who made it into professional baseball.

Maas helped lead UNA to a combined 147-77-1 record in three years and a Gulf South Conference East Division Title in 2005. He helped lower UNA's team ERA from 4.95 in 2003 to 3.43 in 2006. UNA also set a conference record with a 19 game regular season win streak. He helped develop six players into professional baseball, including one into the MLB (Sergio Romo).

Maas is a 2003 graduate of Flagler College with a bachelor's degree in communication and a minor in advertising. He earned his master's of business administration in 2006 from the University of North Alabama.

Blake Lewis is entering his first season as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator for the University of Montevallo.

Lewis was most recently the head coach at Lawson State Community College for three seasons and posted records for most wins in a season and most conference wins in a season. In 2012, he led Lawson to a number 12 national ranking. As head coach he was in charge of all aspects of the program including scheduling, fundraising, recruiting and field maintenance. Prior to taking over as head coach, Lewis served as the assistant coach at Lawson for one season.  

Prior to LSCC, Lewis was a graduate assistant at the University of West Alabama for two seasons. While at UWA, the Tigers were the Gulf South Conference East Division Champions in 2007 and East Division Runners-up in 2008. They finished second in the GSC Tournament in 2006 and made an NCAA Regional appearance in 2008. In his two seasons at UWA, he helped lead the Tigers to an 86-30 record. During his final season the team reached the number two ranking in the nation. He served as the infield coach and assisted with hitting. He also helped coordinate field maintenance and game day activities as well as serve as the first base coach at UWA.

Lewis played at Montevallo for two seasons (2004-05). His senior season the Falcons finished with a 36-22 record and he was third on the team in batting average with a .325 clip. He led the team with 21 stolen bases and was third with 35 RBI. He helped lead the Falcons to the Gulf South Conference Tournament that season. 

A native of Pleasant Grove, Alabama, Lewis is a 2006 graduate of the University of Montevallo with a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology. He earned his graduate degree in 2008 from the University of West Alabama. He is married to Amanda Lewis.

Ryan York is entering his first season as a student assistant coach for the University of Montevallo.

York played for the Falcons last season after spending two years at Nova Southeastern University.

York appeared in 10 games and made two starts in his lone season on the team. York collected three hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Falcons. The catcher/outfielder also finished with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

York, a kinesiology major, prepped at Bishop Verot High School in Alva, Fla. He is the son of Ron and Denise York. His father, Ron, played baseball at the University of West Florida, while his mother, Denise, was a member of the West Florida women’s basketball team. York has one sister, Shannon.