A former assistant and associate head coach in the college baseball realm, Noah Sanders concluded his second season on staff with the UCF softball team in 2026.
With Sanders’ guidance of the Black and Gold’s hitting corps, the Knights produced the greatest offensive season in program history throughout the 2026 campaign, setting numerous single-season program records en route to clinching the second NCAA Super Regional berth in program history.
The Black and Gold exploded for a program-record 73 home runs, shattering the team’s previous season best of 57 set in 2021, and also set new program single-season marks in total RBI (354), total grand slams (6), total bases (825), runs scored (383), team average (.320), team on-base percentage (.416), and team slugging percentage (.532).
UCF was led offensively by the quintet of catcher Beth Damon, utility Kendall Yarnell, second baseman Sierra Humphreys, shortstop Aubrey Evans and left fielder Izzy Mertes. Each hit at least 10 home runs on the year, giving the Knights the first season in program history with five players who eclipsed double digits.
All five set new single-season career bests in home runs as well, led by Damon’s 16 that represented a share of third most in a season in program history and just eight shy of matching Stephanie Best’s program record 26 home runs in 2005. With two grand slams from Yarnell and one from each of Mertes, Evans, Humphreys and third baseman Coco Jaimes, UCF set a new single-season mark in the category.
Humphreys, meanwhile, saw her career continue its steep upward trajectory with her selection to the NFCA’s All-America Third Team. She became the second Knight in program history to earn NFCA All-America status, and the first since UCF Hall-of-Famer Shelby Turnier in 2015.
The second baseman set single-season career bests in average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, doubles, total bases, home runs and RBI, and ranked among Big 12 Conference leaders in total bases (7th), doubles (8th), RBI (9th), slugging percentage (13th), total hits (14th) and home runs (15th).
UCF as a team clinched each of its first five wins of the season via the run-rule, outscoring its opponents by an aggregate 61-15 through the season’s first six games. The Knights would then finish the year with 15 run-rule wins, the most in a single season in program history.
The squad as a whole finished the season ranking among Big 12 Conference leaders in triples (13, 2nd), walks (231, 2nd), total hits (496, 3rd), on-base percentage (.416, T-3rd), RBI (354, 4th), total runs (383, 4th), stolen bases (55, 4th), and home runs (73, 5th).
The Knights’ offensive corps helped lead the squad to statement wins over then-No. 10 LSU, then-No. 12 Oklahoma State twice, then-No. 23 Arizona State twice, then-No. 24 Kansas twice, and the NCAA Tournament’s No. 9 overall seed Florida State Seminoles in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional Final.
UCF’s prolific 2026 campaign was built upon the foundation Sanders help set during his first year in Orlando in 2025. A younger lineup featuring an underclassman majority slashed .287/.362/.436 (443-for-1546), accompanied by 264 runs scored, 77 doubles, eight triples, 46 home runs, 674 total bases and 161 walks.
The Black and Gold’s 77 doubles also represented the third-most in the Big 12 Conference overall, behind only Texas Tech’s 93 and Iowa State’s 80.
The squad totaled seven run-rule victories throughout Sanders’ first year in Orlando as well, including three over power four opponents (Arizona State March 15, BYU April 10 and Houston April 27) and one during NCAA Regional play (Eastern Illinois, May 17).
Under his tutelage, the team also hit a handful of major milestones and set program records along the way, including the largest overall comeback win in program history (11 runs, vs. Stetson April 23) and the largest comeback win against a ranked opponent in program history (five runs, vs. then-No. 15 Missouri Feb. 11).
In erasing the 11-run deficit against the Hatters, UCF set its program single-game (8) and single-inning (5) home run records, and in toppling then-No. 21 Oklahoma State April 18, the team recorded its highest scoring single inning (nine runs) since 2020.
The two efforts against Stetson and then-No. 15 Missouri factored into UCF’s season total of nine comeback wins in games that saw the Knights trailing by three-plus runs, or in the fifth inning or later.
Sanders joined the Knights following seven seasons with the Little Rock Trojans baseball team in Little Rock, Arkansas, first as an assistant coach from 2018 through the 2022 seasons before he was promoted to the program’s associate head coach in the summer of 2022.
He helped lead his team to great success throughout his tenure in Little Rock. In posting the team’s second 30-win campaign in as many seasons as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference in 2024, the Trojans finished the year with an aggregate .274/.355/.432 line, accompanied by 60 home runs and 116 doubles, a mark that ranked fifth-most in a single season in program history.
Little Rock boasted five players with at least 10 doubles in 2024, led by Nico Baumbach’s 22, and three players who eclipsed 100 total bases, led again by Baumbach (120).
The Trojans in 2023 recorded the second-most home runs in program history (63), as well as the third-most triples (16) and total bases (860), fourth-highest slugging percentage (.466), and fifth-most total hits (552).
Under Sanders’ guidance, a handful of players reached personal career milestones during the 2023 campaign, highlighted by Baumbach’s program-record 52-game on-base streak. Tyler Williams set the Trojans’ all-time career records for triples (15) and stolen bases (350), and Ty Rhoades posted the highest batting average and most doubles by a Little Rock freshman in a single season since 2010.
In 2022, he helped lead the Trojans to some of the best offensive numbers during his tenure, including a team batting average of .286, an OPS of .805 and the fewest team strikeouts since 2016. That squad’s effort was led by Canyon McWilliams, who ranked second in the Sun Belt with a .382 batting average, the ninth best in program history, while Noah Dickerson slotted in eighth in the conference with a .354 mark.
Sanders helped bring the Little Rock offense to new heights throughout the Trojans’ prolific 2019 season at the plate. The team’s 54 home runs represented its highest single-season total since 2013, and drew 89 hit-by-pitches, which marked the most for the program since 2010.
In total, Sanders has recruited and/or coached 21 players who have been selected in the MLB Draft and a total of 24 players who went on to play professional baseball. Two notable draftees include Tyler Zuber, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals, and Peyton Culbertson, who was selected in the eighth round of the 2018 draft by the Miami Marlins.
Sanders has mentored eight players on their way to receiving First Team All-Sun Belt honors, including Pittman, who earned First Team NABC/Rawlings All-Region and Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-American recognition. Sanders also coached 2018 Sun Belt Newcomer of the year Kyle MacDonald, 2015 Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American Zach George, and 2015 First Team College Sports Madness Matt Burgess.
Sanders came to Little Rock from in-state rival Arkansas State, where he served as the assistant coach during the 2016 and 2017 seasons after aiding as the Red Wolves’ volunteer assistant coach for three seasons from 2013-15.
As a player, Sanders spent two years at Itawamba Community College in 2006 and 2007 before transferring to the University of West Alabama for two seasons (2008-09). He spent the final year of his playing career at Arkansas-Monticello in 2010.
Sanders earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies from Arkansas-Monticello. He and his wife, Bailie, have two kids, Kannon and Kendall.