Spring sports: a success in 2012

By Ryan Gaydos

 

As you all know, once May comes that average college student does one of two things; sits down and studies or tunes out the rest of the world in preparation for the summer months. If you did either of those two things you definitely missed an interesting end to the spring sports semester.

The Kean baseball team has always been good. If there is one thing that the athletic program is known for, it is having a very good baseball team. Showing its natural prowess, the team finished with its eight straight 30-win season and make its fifth trip to the College Baseball World Series in the past six years. However, the team was eliminated by Webster University by the score of 8-7.

Multiple players won collegiate awards. Among others, outfielder Shane Alvarez was named to theABCA/Rawlings Mid-Atlantic Region Gold Glove team, pitcher Kevin Herget was named to the NJCBADivision II/III 1st team, head coach Neil Ioveira was named ABCA Mid-Atlantic and NJCBA Division II/III coach of the year and pitcher Ryan Zamorsky racked up a bunch of awards being named to theABCA 1st Team All-American, D3baseball.com 2ndTeam All-American, ABCA Mid-Atlantic All-Region 1stTeam, D3baseball.com Mid-Atlantic Region 1stTeam, winning the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Tournament Most Outstanding Player, ECAC Metro Pitcher of the Year, NJAC Pitcher of the Year, NJACFirst-Team, and NJCBA Division II/III Pitcher of the Year.

Baseball’s polar opposite, softball, finished with a 24-19 record making the NJAC tournament but losing to The College of New Jersey. The team produced a young gun on the mound with pitcher Courtney Yard. She became the program’s first recipient of the NJACRookie of the Year award with an 18-13 record and a 1.68 ERA. Fellow rookie teammate Ashley Geiger became the second pitcher in the program’s history to throw a no-hitter. Geiger did it April 19.

The men’s lacrosse team finished up a 10-win season of its own. The team made it to the Skyline Conference championship with a 5-1 record but lost to Montclair State 17-10 in the final. Nick Angrisani, Richard Cheifitz, Rob Child, Jonathan Foss, Russell King, John Marcelli and Zach Williams were all named to the Skyline Conference All-Team.

The women’s lacrosse team made its fifth straight Skyline Conference tournament with a 9-9 overall record and a 5-3 conference record. However, Farmingdale State knocked Kean out of the tournament defeating the Cougars 21-5. Lyndsey Cannon racked up the awards for the team being named to the IWLCA Boardwalk Region First-Team, Skyline First-Team, and the NJAC First-Team.

Although no major championships were won, the spring sports teams had a great year and will look to improve upon their efforts come the 2013 season. Let’s hope that the fall and winter programs can follow suit.

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