Horning (Watertown '07-'08) Becomes A Diplomat

Former Watertown Wizards field manager Ryan Horning (Watertown '07-'08) has been hired as an assistant baseball coach at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. The Diplomats are members of NCAA Division III and play in the Centennial Conference.

Horning joins the Dips after a season in Ithaca, N.Y., as an assistant coach at Cornell University. Horning worked with the Big Red's infielders and outfielders and mentored three players to an All-Ivy selection. The Syracuse, N.Y., native has previously worked as an assistant coach at St. John Fisher College and Longwood University. During Horning's second season at Fisher, the Cardinals earned their first ever at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and secured the program's first tournament win.

Additionally, Horning guided the Syracuse, N.Y., 16-year-old Babe Ruth all-star team to the Babe Ruth World Series championship in 2004. He skippered the Salt City squad for four seasons and took them to the World Series in three of those years.

The St. Lawrence University graduate spent two seasons in the New York Collegiate Baseball League with the Watertown Wizards. Horning served as the team's pitching coach in 2007 and oversaw a pitching staff that included first team all-league selection Luis Castillo. Last summer, Horning took over the managerial duties when Todd Kirkey moved to the front office as the team's general manager. Horning guided the Wizards to a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Division and the team made the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. The team finished out the regular season by winning 10 of its' final 13 games.