MEET THE COACHES

Scott Landers

Oswego State University
Pitching Coach

Scott has been the Oswego State (NY) head baseball coach for the last 10 years. In 2017 and 2018 he guided his Lakers to the D-III College World Series. The Windsor, N.Y. native joined the Laker staff after serving as the assistant coach at Division I Le Moyne College for the previous nine seasons.  During his tenure at Le Moyne, five Le Moyne pitchers signed professional baseball contracts. Overall, Landers has coached 21 players that have gone on to play professional baseball. Before Le Moyne, Landers served as an assistant coach at SUNY Cortland for two years and one season as the head coach at Broome Community College (NY). He graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1998 and earned his master’s degree in Health Education from there in 2003. Landers was a four-year pitcher at Cortland and helped the Red Dragons to three SUNYAC titles, four regional appearances and three NCAA Division III World Series appearances.

Ryan Smyth

Keystone College
Third Base Coach, Hitting Coach

Ryan is Associate Head Coach at Keystone, working with Head Coach Shevchik. This is his eighth year as a Whitecaps coach. At Keystone, he coaches the team’s hitters and infielders and coordinates recruiting. Smyth has coached more than 20 players who have signed professional contracts. He has significant summer college baseball coaching experience, including six years in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) both as a hitting coach and manager, before making the jump up to the Cape. As a player, he was two-year standout player at Keystone after stints at Boston College and Brookdale Community College (NJ). In his two seasons with Keystone, he hit .349 with 87 hits, 19 doubles, 21 home runs, and 73 RBI’s.  He ranks fifth all time for career home runs (21) after playing for only two seasons.  He played professionally for the Evansville Otters in the Frontier League. 

Lance Ratchford

SUNY Cobleskille
Bench Coach/Infield Coach

In his first season as head coach at SUNY Cobleskill, Coach Ratchford took the 2019 Fighting Tigers from a 3-28 record the year before to a 9-9  conference finish (16-22 overall), one of the best turnarounds in NCAA history at any level.  Ratchford was voted runner-up for NEAC Coach of the Year.

Previously as an assistant coach at Marist College, he helped capture the 2017 MAAC Championship, which earned the team a berth in the NCAA Tournament where his team fell to the Florida Gators, that year’s eventual National Champions. Before Marist, Lance was an assistant coach at SUNY Oneonta for five years.

Ratchford played collegiately at both Division II Mansfield (PA) and Division III Keystone College.  In his senior year for Keystone, he batted .339, helping the Giants to their third straight conference championship and an eventual third place finish in the D3 College World Series.

Lance previously coached with the Whitecaps for the summers of 2015-16.

EJ Devarie

Keystone College
First Base Coach/Infield Coach
Youth Clinics Director

This is EJ’s first year with the Whitecaps.  During the college season, he is an assistant coach, working with Head Coach Jamie Shevchik and Associate Head Coach Ryan Smyth at Keystone College in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Before Keystone, he was an assistant coach focused on working with hitters at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He played in college for Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.  After college, he spent two years playing professionally for the Gary (IN) Railcats in the American Association of the Independent League. EJ is delighted to be part of the acclaimed Cape Cod Baseball League, and especially pleased to continue his working relationship with Coach Shevchik and Coach Ryan for the summer.

Sean Stevens

Keystone College
​Assistant Pitching Coach/Performance Coach/
Bullpen Coach

This is Sean’s first summer with the Whitecaps after joining the Keystone College staff as the Pitching Coach/Recruiting Coordinator. Prior to, Sean spent three seasons as an Assistant Coach at EWC in Jacksonville, FL. Sean has 25 years of baseball experience as a player and coach, including four years as a professional baseball player.

On the Summer Collegiate Circuit, Sean served as the Field Manager for the Guilford Blueticks in the ONSL and the Pitching Coach for the Lake Norman Copperheads in the SCBL. Before joining EWC he was a Volunteer Assistant at his alma mater, Division III Aurora University in Illinois. As a professional, he played independent baseball for four different teams. He spent one season playing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he hit .533, leading the Shankees to their first League Championship in franchise history in 2017. In college, Stevens played all three outfield positions for Thomas University, before completing his collegiate career at Aurora University. He spent the summer of 2007 playing amateur baseball for the Fort Lauderdale Superstars of the Federal League.

Alex Schick

University of California Berkeley
Assistant Pitching Coach

Pitcher for the Whitecaps in 2015 and was a Cape Cod All-Star that year. Had a 2.03 ERA as a junior at UC Berkley (Cal) and got drafted in the 6th Round of the 2016 MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins. Played in the Twins organization from 2016-2020 and finished in AAA. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017 and became proficient in Trackman, Rapsodo and TruMedia data points during the rehab process.

Having the mixture of being a former minor league player, feel for classic baseball terminology and an understanding of high level analytics is something that he hopes to blend together to form a front office/scouting/coaching career.