The Capital Region lost a legendary baseball player and coach with a fierce competitive spirit when longtime SUNY Schenectady head coach Tim Andi passed away Sunday. Andi, who guided the Royals for 25 years and helped to put the program on the map, died at the age of 64 from a rare auto immune disease.

A pitching guru who starred on the mound at several levels, Andi kept excelling when he became a coach, compiling a record of 561-314 at SUNY Schenectady. He took the Royals to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 3 World Series in 1999 and 2002. He was named the NJCAA Coach of the Year in 2002, and won the Mountain Valley Conference Coach of the Year award seven times. His teams dominated Region 3 for a couple of decades.