Gregg Ritchie to leave Pirates to become George Washington head coach

Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coach Gregg Ritchie is expected to leave Pittsburgh to become the new head coach of the George Washington University baseball team. Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that GWU will announce the hiring on Tuesday.

Ritchie, 48, became the hitting coach of the Pirates prior to the 2011 season. He had been with the Pirates since 2006 as a minor league hitting coordinator. Prior to his time with the Pirates organization, Ritchie was a hitting coach in the Chicago White Sox minor league system for ten seasons.

An alumni of George Washington, Ritchie played four seasons of baseball with the Colonials from 1982-1986 where he played in the outfield and served as a pitcher. In his senior season, he batted .492 and posted a 1.91 ERA with a 6-3 record as a pitcher. He was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year and was a third-team All-American.

This story originally appeared on SB Nation Pittsburgh.