Tom Carty joined the Columbia baseball staff as the Assistant Coach/Pitching Coach in August of 2022 and was promoted to Associate Head Coach ahead of the 2025 campaign. He had previously spent six seasons at LIU where he served as the pitching coach with the last two years doubling as Associate Head Coach for the Sharks.
The Lions captured a second straight Ivy League title in 2025 and went on to win the Ivy League Tournament Crown to earn a bid in the NCAA Regionals, where Columbia earned a win over No. 12Â Southern Miss in the opening round. Columbia's pitching staff saw starter Thomas Santana and reliever Alex Sotiropoulos earn All-Ivy League honors.
In 2024, the Columbia pitching staff set a new single-season strikeouts record with 360 en route to the program's 16th Ivy League Championship. A program-record 12 Lions earned All-Ivy League recognition and conference-best six garnered First Team. Starting pitchers Joe Sheets and Thomas Santana received First Team honors while starting pitcher Derek Yoo garnered Honorable Mention.
Columbia's starting rotation in 2024 consisted of Santana, Sheets, and Yoo. The Lions pitching staff allowed the least amount of hits, second-least number of runs scored, had the lowest opponent batting average, and second-lowest ERA over 21 Ivy League games. Santana's .167 opponent batting average in league play led the conference. Santana was one of just three pitchers who allowed single-digit runs in the conference season. Sheets' .207 opponent batting average in league play ranked fourth. Sheets earned three straight victories over Penn, Dartmouth, and Yale in 2024 in which the Wilmington, Delaware, native went more than five innings and allowed one earned run or fewer in each start. Yoo had the fourth-most Ivy League innings thrown in 2024 among conference pitchers (43.1). After starting just one career game ahead of the season, the righty made seven starts in league play and pitched seven innings in four of them. Sheets and Santana each surrendered just one home run in Ivy League appearances, tying each other for a conference-best mark.
In Carty’s first season with the Lions in 2023, starting pitchers Andy Leon and Joe Sheets garnered All-Ivy League Second Team and Honorable Mention honors, respectively. Leon and Sheets made all 12 starts atop Columbia’s rotation. On March 17 at Tulane, the pitching staff tied the program record for most strikeouts in a game with 17. Leon got the start and struck out a career-high nine batters in that win over the Green Wave. In his sophomore season, Leon also finished tied for second in the Ivy League with six wins and recorded two starts on the season where he pitched six or more innings and didn't allow any runs. He earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on March 13, which was the first accolade of his career.
Carty also guided Sheets to a successful campaign in 2023. The Lions starter allowed three home runs which ranks tied for the league-least, including just one home run in seven Ivy League starts. Sheets also walked 19 batters in 67.2 innings, which ranked tied for fourth-least in the Ivy League. The right-hander tossed seven or more innings twice on the season, including April 2 against Cornell in which he struck out a season-high six batters and earned the win. Sheets and reliever Camron Hubble were Columbia’s two pitchers to earn College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections.
Columbia’s bullpen recorded 11 saves in 2023, which is tied for fourth most in a season in program history. The Lions saved 10 games in Ivy League play, which was the most in the conference. Reliever Justin Tucker notched five saves in 2023, which tied for second-most saves in the conference and second-most in a season in program history.
Carty was named to the USA Baseball 2023 16U/17U National Team Development Program staff. The event ran from July 26-29 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. Team USA alum and former Major League Baseball pitcher Brad Penny served as the pitching coordinator for the event.
LIU’s pitching staff enjoyed great success under Carty’s tutelage. Carty has coached multiple all-NEC performers on the mound in Patrick Clyne, Mike Kreiger, Jackson Svete, Rob Griswold, Nick DeSalvo, and Joshua Loeschorn.
In 2022, Carty helped produce two all-NEC pitchers in Loeschorn (first team) and DeSalvo for a team that won the NEC regular season and the NEC tournament before appearing in the College Park NCAA Regional.
Loeschorn was named the NEC Pitcher of the Year after leading the conference with 11 wins, which finished second in a single season in program history, trailing only Sal Campisi’s 12 wins in 1964. Loeschorn was named a Collegiate Baseball second team All-American and a member of the ABCA first-team All-Northeast Region.
The 2022 staff set the previous record for strikeouts in a season with 482, breaking the 2018 record. Three pitchers signed professional contracts: Loeschorn signed with the New York Boulders, DeSalvo signed with the New Jersey Jackals, and Josh Gainer signed with the Great Falls Voyagers. Loeschorn was drafted in the 19th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2022 and is currently with the Bradenton Pirates (A) while Griswold signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves and is currently with the Rome Braves (A).
Under Carty's guidance, Griswold was lights out for the Sharks in relief during the 2021 season, earning first-team All-NEC for his work on the mound. He went 4-0, along with five saves. Griswold finished with a 0.68 ERA in 26.1 innings pitched. He finished fourth in the league in saves and led the NEC in both appearances (16) and games finished (14).Â
In 2019, LIU ranked second in the NEC with three shutouts on the year. The team ranked second in the league with 383 strikeouts and a 7.7 strikeouts per nine innings average. LIU finished third in the league with a 5.33 earned run average. The team set a program single-game record for strikeouts as four pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts against Manhattan on March 26.
During the 2018 campaign, Carty helped coach LIU to its first NEC Championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1972 with a program record 31-win campaign. LIU’s pitching staff ranked third in the NEC with a 4.98 earned run average, a two-run improvement from the previous season. The team logged a league-high 488.0 innings in 2018. With an 8.2 strikeout per nine inning average for the year, LIU set a program single-season record with 442 strikeouts.
He has also helped mentor student-athletes who thrived in the classroom, as the program has had five-straight semesters of a 3.2 GPA or better, including a 3.50 GPA in fall of 2018.
Carty came to LIU after nine highly-successful seasons as head coach at Georgia College. During his near-decade as skipper of the Bobcats, Carty went 311-169 including three regular-season titles and two Peach Belt Tournament titles. At Georgica College, the Bobcats made the Peach Belt Conference Tournament eleven straight seasons and finished third or better six of the eleven seasons. During his tenure, the team also advanced to seven NCAA Division II Tournaments and finished third in the nation at the Division II World Series in 2010.
Under Carty, twelve Bobcats players earned All-America status, most recently second baseman Dylan Cook in 2016. The program has had 28 all-conference and 22 all-region selections while Carty has been at the helm, and over 22 players have gone on to play professional baseball over the last 10 years. He was a two-time Georgia Dugout Club Coach of the Year, picking up region and conference honors in 2010.
Carty was named the 2010 and 2013 Georgia Dugout Club Coach of the Year and in 2006, the Bobcats' pitching staff set the school record for team ERA.
During his time at Georgia College, Mike Antonini and Josh Taylor received big league call ups. Taylor is currently a member of the Kansas City Royals.
Prior to Georgia College, Carty was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Marshall University for four seasons (2001-05). He was responsible for developing the pitching staff, recruiting student-athletes, and additional administrative tasks.
Carty has also had stops at Atlantic Coast Conference school N.C. State as director of baseball operations and at West Chester University and Montgomery County Community College.
Carty is a graduate of Gwynedd Mercy College with a bachelor's degree in history.
