NJIT baseball

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] History

The New Jersey Institute of Technology baseball team is a NCAA Division 1 affiliated club. The 2008 season will be the 60th season for the NJIT baseball team. They are among the many teams in the United States who are Independent. Independent means that they are not affiliated with a conference. The reason for this is because up until 2007, NJIT was in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference which is a Division 2 conference and they are in a reclassifying period. This will take a few years until they are eligible to contend in a conference. The entire athletic department at the New Jersey Insitute of Technology decided they were going to take all sporting teams to the highest level of competition. This process started in 2005, and NJIT is now fully Division 1. The NJIT baseball team is named the Highlanders, they are located in University Heights in Newark, New Jersey. There home games are played at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium which is located in Newark, New Jersey and the capacity is 6,200. The stadium dimensions are: Left field 302ft.,Left Center Field 364ft., Centerfield 394ft., Right Center Field 365ft., and Rightfield 323ft. The Highlanders colors are Red and White with a blue accent. Brian Callahan is the Head Coach of the NJIT Baseball team. He has taken the program from the bottom ranks of Division 3, to a national contender at Division 2, and now has a chance to lead his team at the highest collegiate level. His career coaching record is 126-163, which consists of seven seasons all as the head coach of NJIT. He received the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005, and led NJIT to the CACC championship in 2005. His first year coaching in Division 1 his team compiled a 15-28 record. He has coached one professional baseball player, Kwesi Mitchell, who was a member of the first Division 1 baseball team at NJIT. Mitchell signed a contract with the Independent Professional baseball team Atlantic City Surf. Mitchell is also the single season home run record holder at NJIT, where he hit 13 in 2007. Mitchell now serves as a coach on the NJIT staff, until he leaves to start his professional career.

[edit] Records

The NJIT baseball team has had many great ballplayers in the past other than Kwesi Mitchell. Chris Schwartz played from 2001-2004, and he holds the record for most career hits with 201. Chris Legiadre who pitched for the Highlanders from 2002-2006, holds the record for most career wins with 29. Derrick McCain was a four year star for the Highlanders, and he holds the record for most games played with 157. P.J. Saporito, a current member of the NJIT baseball team threw the first perfect game in the history of the New York Collegiate Baseball League in 2007. He is also the winning pitcher in both the last win in Division 2 and the first win in Division 1 for NJIT. Current Second Baseman, Dan Morogiello, has been a four year starter for the Highlanders, and by the end of his career will rank among the career leaders in a few categories such as hits and games played. As a team, NJIT baseball have set a couple new team records in the past few years. In 2006, they set the record for most wins in a season with 27 and most double plays with 30. At the end of each year, NJIT goes off to play in the Division 1 Independent National Tournament, where they play other Independent teams to crown a champion.