Jefferson University

Pat Horvath enters his 16th season as the head coach of the Rams' baseball team in 2026 after taking over the program in June 2010.

From his first season in the spring of 2011, The 2024 CACC Coach of the Year has turned a five-win program into a perennial contender in Division II baseball. He is currently the program's all-time winningest coach, achieveing that metric on March 1, 2025.

He led the Rams to one of their best campaigns in program history during the 2024 season as Jefferson went 33-17. His squad ended up making the CACC Championship Game and advancing to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid for the first time since 1990. Josh Lopez was named ABCA/Rawlings All-America All-Third Team while being a consensus First Team All-Region selection. This was the first time the Rams had four consecutive winning seasons since 1987-90. 

Jefferson followed it up with program's best record in school history, going 40-17 during the season and ranking as high as 14th in the NCBWA national poll and receiving votes in the D2 Baseball national poll. The Rams took on tough competition in the Houston Winter Invitational, which included NCAA National runner-up Central Missouri. His team took another CACC South Division crown and made the CACC Tournament. The Rams were selected as an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament and were named the No.1 seed in the East Region. The season was historic for another reason as Horvath became the program's all-time winningest coach on March 1 off a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth. Jefferson ranked in the top-10 in the nation for multiple categories, including leading all DII programs in sacrifice bunts and stolen bases. Javon Hernandez gave the team their fourth CACC Player of the Year while Thomas Matuszewski earned CACC Rookie of the Year honors, the second for the school in three years. Hernandez was a consensus All-America First Team by four different organizations (NCBWA, D2CCA, ABCA/Rawlings, D2 Baseball) as well as East Region Player of the Year by NCBWA, ABCA/Rawlings, and D2CCA. Matuszewski was named All-America First Team by the ABCA and D2 Baseball while earning Second Team honors from the D2CCA. Rams had six players secure All-CACC honors while having multiple players earn All-Region honors (three on NCBWA, four on D2CCA and ABCA/Rawlings). 

In 2021, the Rams posted a 23-11 record, advancing to the CACC Championship Game, and narrowly missing out on a NCAA Tournament bid. It was Jefferson's first winning record since 1999. Jack Galligan became the first Ram to capture the CACC Pitcher of the Year award and he was a consensus First Team All-Region selection. Jefferson followed that up with another winning record in 2022, going 26-21. It was the first time that the Rams posted back-to-back winning seasons since 1990-91. Jefferson made it three straight winning records with a 26-22 mark in 2023. 

In 2018, the baseball program fell one game short of reaching the CACC Tournament as first baseman Brandon Quaranta garnered notable regional honors from the ABCA, NCBWA and D2CCA as he broke the program’s all-time career home run mark with his 38th bomb on April 29, 2018. Quaranta and outfielder Timothy Brodhag grabbed nods to the All-CACC teams.

In 2016, Horvath led the Rams to their best season in 21 seasons as the squad racked up 23 victories and reached the championship game of the CACC Tournament for the first time since joining the conference in 2005. The 23 victories are the most for the team since a 25-win campaign in 1995. The Rams had one of the top offenses in the conference, leading the CACC in home runs (42) and ranking second in batting average (.283), slugging percentage (.421), hits (470), runs (303), doubles (86), total bases (700), walks (189), and runs batted in (269).

Pitcher/second baseman Fernando Garza was named the 2016 CACC Player of the Year and became the program’s first All-American since 1998 with his selection to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), and Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-America teams. First baseman Steven Wells earned a place on the All-CACC first team, and ABCA and NCBWA All-East Region teams. The following season in 2017, Well earned ABCA All-East Region Player of the Year, NCBWA Player of the Year, CACC Player of the Year as he was named a ABCA All-American.

The Rams had a 17-23 overall record during the 2014 campaign and went 9-11 against the conference, missing the CACC Tournament by a single game. Philadelphia had John Sczepanski and Ken McCormick named to the All-CACC first team, marking the first time since 2008 that the Rams had two all-conference first-team players. McCormick went on to receive Daktronics Division II All-East Region second team recognition. Jordan Force was tabbed for the 2014 East Region American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Gold Glove second team.

Philadelphia took major steps in the right direction in 2013. The Rams went 19-28-1—an improvement of eight wins from the 2012 season—qualified for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament for the first time since 2008, and won the Bill Giles Invitational Tournament for the first time in 11 seasons.

The 2012 season saw the Rams post an 11-33 overall record, a six-win improvement from Horvath’s first season with the team. Centerfielder Rick Reigner was tabbed All-CACC honorable mention and the team earned the conference’s Team Sportsmanship Award.

Before coming to East Falls, Horvath spent the 2010 season as an assistant coach at Division I Rider University, where he worked with the catchers and also served as the third base coach. In his one season at Rider, the Broncs won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference crown and went to the NCAA Regional Tournament in Austin, Texas.

In 2009, Horvath was the head coach at Santa Fe Catholic High School in Lakeland, Fla. He spent two seasons with San Diego Christian College (SDCC) as the head coach in 2008 and an assistant in 2007. At SDCC, Horvath had two players selected in the 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft and the team had a cumulative grade point average of 3.0. Horvath also has coaching experience at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Palm Beach Atlantic University, his alma mater.

At Palm Beach Atlantic, where he graduated in 2004 with a degree in history, Horvath was a catcher for the Sailfish during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Horvath also attended Faulkner State Community College in Alabama.

Horvath resides in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., with his wife Jackie and three sons.