Way back in 2015, then-North Carolina recruiting coordinator Scott Jackson recruited a Pennsylvania kid named Ryan Sloniger. That recruiting process did not bear fruit at the time, as Sloniger wound up at Penn State, where his four-year career lasted from 2016-19. But years later, Jackson’s relationship with Sloniger proved serendipitous.
During Sloniger’s final two years in State College, he was teammates with a young outfielder named Derek Orndorff, who later transferred to Division II power Seton Hill (Pa.) prior to his 2020 junior year. Orndorff blossomed at Seton Hill, hitting .353 with 15 homers in 2021 to help lead the Griffins to the D-II College World Series. But he still had a year of eligibility left, and he wanted another crack at D-I ball. That’s where Sloniger — now the fourth assistant at Kent State — re-enters the picture.
“I got a text from Ryan this summer, he said, ‘Hey coach, a really good friend of mine really wants to go to Liberty, he’s in the transfer portal, I think he’d be a great fit,’” said Jackson, now in his sixth season as Liberty’s head coach. “I said, ‘OK man,’ and kind of moved on. I think Derek had sent us an email, his father had come here back in the day. Derek was interested a lot in Liberty out of high school, but with the coaching change from Coach [Jim] Toman to me, it didn’t really materialize. So it kind of fell into our laps. Sometimes you get lucky.”
And boy, have the Flames gotten lucky with Orndorff. Through his first 12 games at Liberty, Orndorff is leading Division I with 10 home runs and ranks second with a 1.868 OPS. He’s slashing .432/.625/1.243 and has 20 RBIs, six stolen bases in six tries, and more walks (11) than strikeouts (nine). How’s that for a strong return to D-I competition?
Orndorff hit his first homer on opening day against perennial power Florida, and seven of his 10 homers have come at Liberty’s Williams Stadium, a notoriously difficult place to hit the ball out.
“It’s crazy. If you go on tape and look what he’s doing, he took an 0-0 slider right-on-right off the plate about four or five inches and went out of here opposite field, and that’s not easy to do at Liberty,” Jackson said. “I try not to say too much to him, just shake his hand coming around third and say, ‘Let me know if you need something.’ Because he’s seeing it pretty darn good.
“He’s mature and has a good understanding of his swing. I batted him seventh on opening day, I didn’t see it coming. But with the way he works and the type of kid he is, with the awareness that he has, it doesn’t surprise me that it’s in there. The fact that it’s 10 jacks in the first 11 games is a little surprising. He’s just a strong older player, another one from the transfer portal we’re fortunate to have.”
But it was actually Orndorff’s defense that first caught Jackson’s attention. The Flames needed to replace right fielder Jake Wilson, a standout defender, and defense is always a top priority for Liberty, which led the nation in fielding percentage last year.
“I called his coach at Seton Hill, we had some conversations. He said, ‘Coach it’s incredible defense, it’s speed. the kid will run through a wall.’ Then there were some highlight clips of him on Twitter,” Jackson said. “I said, ‘Let’s go get this kid to go with [center fielder] Jaylen Guy in right, to keep our defense what it was in the outfield.’ We started to talk about hitting, he wanted to know how we did things here. It wasn’t about him, he wanted to be in a program that won. He was excited to get back to the Division I level and wanted to help us win no matter what. It was just refreshing, you’ve got a mature kid who wanted to be here.”
Guy wound up having Tommy John surgery, allowing Orndorff to slide back to center field, where he played last year. And it’s safe to say he’s been an asset in the middle garden, where he’s put his plus speed and superb instincts to use making highlight-reel catches like this one against Florida, the No. 1 play on the SportsCenter Top 10 that night. He pursues fly balls so relentlessly that Jackson had to tell him he’s not allowed to leave his feet or run into walls while patrolling center field in batting practice.
Jackson knew Orndorff could defend before he ever set foot on campus, but it took some time this fall and winter — and a lot of hard work — to unlock his full offensive potential.
“I think he’s just gotten cleaner to the ball,” Jackson said. “He had a higher leg kick and it was a very violent draw of the hands, just a lot that he had to get synced up to be on time. There was some failure that went with that, and he was open to, ‘Hey, what do you see?’ There were some conversations that him and I had in the cage, and a lot of conversations between him and Coach [Tyler] Cannon in the cage, just things he would be open to: ‘I think your leg kick needs to be cut down a little bit and think your hands need to fall under your shoulders to get you a little quicker and cleaner to the ball.’ It didn’t happen overnight, but it was about him being open to change and trusting his coaches.”
Still, Jackson batted Orndorff in the 7-hole to start the season — but by the middle of Week Two against Winthrop, he was entrenched in the cleanup spot, hitting bomb after bomb to center field and the opposite way.
But as exciting as Orndorff has been — with the bat and with the glove — the full measure of his impact goes well beyond the Twitter highlights.
“The best part of Derek Orndorff is the type of teammate he is and the way he shows up every day,” Jackson said. “The things that people outside the program aren’t gonna see are the things I love most — don’t get me wrong, I love seeing a ball go over the fence, but I love coaching the kid and being around him every day, and I know for a fact his teammates would say the same thing. The character matters here, and I think that’s the one thing that a lot of people aren’t seeing is that side of Derek Orndorff yet, the type of kid and type of teammate he is. To come in here one year and want to serve your teammates, he’s a shining example of that.”
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