Baseball
- Title:
- Volunteer Assistant Coach
- Email:
- tei.vanderford@csun.edu
- Phone:
- 5622
Tei Vanderford completed his third season as a member of the baseball staff and second as a volunteer assistant coach in 2020-21.Â
A former right-handed pitcher with the Matadors, Vanderford moved into the volunteer assistant coach role under Dave Serrano after previously serving as a graduate manager in 2019 under former head coach Greg Moore. Vanderford has worked closely with the CSUN pitching staff over the past three seasons.
Vandeford has coached three all-conference pitchers during his time with the coaching staff including Blaine Traxel who led the Big West in complete games (3) in 2021. In the shortened 2020 season, the Matadors' staff posted a 3.42 ERA, which ranked third-best in the Big West Conference.
Vanderford prepped at Saint Francis High in La Canada where he was selected as a two-time all-league and all-city award winner with the Golden Knights. He served as the team captain for two years on both the baseball and basketball teams.
He then spent a year at Glendale Community College where he helped the team win a Western State Conference and Regional Championship. He earned five wins while not allowing an earned run through the first 35 innings of the season. His miniscule 1.65 ERA was Top 10 in the state of California.
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After his freshman season, he earned a scholarship to go play in the SEC at the University of Tennessee under current CSUN head coach Dave Serrano. Vanderford redshirted during the 2014 season and missed all of 2015 due to injury. During his time there, he graduated a semester early while garnering three Academic All-SEC selections. He also received Magna Cum Laude honors with a degree in Communication Studies and a minor in Information Science.
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In 2017, Vanderford joined the Matadors and served as the Friday starter his junior year. Vanderford started a team-high 14 games in his first season and earned a 5-4 record along with 69 strikeouts. He became just the second pitcher in the last 13 seasons to toss 98 innings in a single year. In his first start of the season, he struck out seven and tossed six shutout innings against Portland. He also allowed one earned run over seven innings to Towson.
In perhaps his most memorable start, Vanderford tossed a 136-pitch complete game where he yielded one run and struck out eight to defeat No. 14 Vanderbilt in 2017. The start earned him Big West Pitcher of the Week Honors. He went on to strike out seven, allowing two runs in 7.2 innings versus Purdue and one run on one hit over seven innings at Washington State. Vanderford struck out a season-best nine over eight innings against UC Santa Barbara. He received a no decision after allowing no earned runs over 7.1 innings to No. 13 Cal State Fullerton to close up the season.
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In his senior season, Vanderford appeared in 24 games, leading the team in wins with six. Moving into the bullpen after the first month of the season, he registered a 5-1 record with a 2.61 ERA and 35 strikeouts. In Big West play, he finished fifth in the conference in ERA (2.33), fifth in appearances (12), sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (7.33) and sixth in wins (4-0). He worked 3.1 shutout innings, striking out five batters to earn a win over the regional bound UCLA Bruins who were ranked 16th in the country at the time. Vanderford also struck out six batters over six innings, allowing one run to pick up a win over a Super Regional bound Cal State Fullerton team. He nailed down his first save of the season with 0.2 shutout innings against the USC Trojans to wrap up the year.
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Vanderford earned his Masters of Science in Tourism, Hospitality, and Recreation Management with a focus in Sports Management from CSUN in May 2018. He was a two-time Honor Roll and Big West Commissioner’s Highest Honors Award winner during his two seasons with the Matadors. He is studying to earn his PhD in Psychology as well.
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