Kean Baseball’s Fast Start

By Hector Morales | Published March 24, 2022

Kean University’s Baseball Team is off to a strong start as they won 11 of their first 13 games and have won 10 in a row to start the season. The Cougars are currently grinding it out at Myrtle Beach, and this has been the Cougars’ best start since 2011.

Head Coach Neil Ioverio has entered his 25th season coaching for the team and was impressed on how the team progressed so far.

“We felt that these guys were prepared,” Ioviero said. “We have great chemistry, we have coachable kids and when you have that kind of structure and that kind of desire to play hard and win, then the wins are kind of expected.”

Senior Third Baseman and Business Marketing major Michael Lapczynski is one of the top hitters on the team. Lapczynski’s baseball experience at Kean has gotten much better in his senior year as he has driven in 18 RBIs, and he is leading the team with a .479 batting average.

“I feel good, it’s been a good start to the year,” Lapcynski said. “But we got to stay even-keel. We can never get too high or never get too low. We are going to stay right in the middle and go game by game.”

The Metuchen native had experience playing baseball at Metuchen High School and the Baseball Warehouse Travel Team. His brother, Connor Lapcynski also played baseball and that’s what made Michael inspired to play the sport.  

“He has been a big role model to me, so I really want to follow in his footsteps and continue playing the family sport,” Lapcynski said.

Lapcynksi currently has 66 hits, 43 RBIs, and a .332 batting average in his career. He is still seeking his first home run in his Kean baseball career.

“He has been very consistent for us,” Ioviero said. “He’s put in a lot of work in the last couple of years and allowed him to be in a position now where he is more mature. He’s more comfortable and understands what the pitchers are trying to do to get him out.”

Even though the Cougars are off to a great start, they suffered numerous injuries and are trying to get the players back to the roster as healthy as possible.

“We are trying to get as many games as we can, we are trying to get some of our players healthy,” Ioviero said. “We really can’t take much more in the near future.”

Coach Ioviero is looking to bring the Cougars back to the National Championship for the first time since 2007, but there is still a long season ahead of them.

“Obviously it’s a good start, but we keep talking about where we want to finish and how we want to get there. We are going to take it day by day and get ready for the next one,” Ioviero said.

With all the hard work the Cougars had gone through during the off-season, Lapczynski hopes he and his teammates can achieve the positive outcome to end his final season.

“We are going to grind it out, grinding through the season and achieving the optimal goal of winning the National Championship. We want to get that goal and reach it and hopefully that will happen this season,” Lapczynski said. 

---