The new pitching coach for Wake Forest is a former Deacon who already has a little experience on the coaching staff.

Eric Niesen will be the Deacons’ new pitching coach, a source confirmed to Deacons Illustrated on Tuesday afternoon. Jacob Rudner of Baseball America first reported the news.

Niesen pitched at Wake Forest from 2005-07, with a 14-9 career record. He was a third-round pick of the Mets in 2007.

After a 10-year professional career, Niesen returned to Wake Forest and was a student assistant with the Deacons in 2017, when the program reached a super regional series at Florida and lost to the eventual national champions.

From there, Niesen went to Georgetown as its pitching coach.

According to Niesen’s LinkedIn page, he left Georgetown in the fall of 2020 and spent about a year as director of pitching at Premier Baseball Kansas City. In spring of 2021, he joined the Houston Astros organization and most recently held the title of director of pitching.

Niesen is replacing Corey Muscara, who was hired as Duke’s next head coach.

Two of the last three pitching coaches hired by Tom Walter at Wake Forest have recently been D1Baseball’s assistant of the year. Muscara won the award in 2023 when the Deacons went to Omaha, snapping a 68-year drought; Matt Hobbs won the award last year as Arkansas’ pitching coach, having gone from Wake Forest to the Razorbacks in Dec. 2018.