Baseball's Phil Cundari Promoted to Associate Head Coach
10/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Phil Cundari, long-time pitching coach of the BIG EAST Champion Seton Hall baseball team, has been promoted to Associate Head Coach as announced today by head coach Rob Sheppard.
A Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Famer and long-time assistant coach, Phil Cundari, has served on the Pirates' coaching staff for the last 11 years and has two BIG EAST Championship rings to show for it. Most recently, he was the pitching coach for last year's BIG EAST Champion squad that led the conference in earned run average and was second in strikeouts, opponent batting average, innings pitched and hits allowed.
"Phil is such a great asset with his knowledge of pitching and his ability to teach the mental skills aspect of coaching," Sheppard said. "His promotion allows us to celebrate him and all of his contributions to the program. It shows a commitment as a University to keep a strong coaching staff together and to continue to attract quality pitching prospects."
Under his tutelage, Cundari has coached 17 players who were either selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft or signed as a free agent, the latest of which was the 2011 BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player, Joe DiRocco. With Cundari's guidance, DiRocco became the first Seton Hall player since 1997 to earn ABCA All-America honors. The Pirates' ace was also named First Team All-BIG EAST and Second Team All-ECAC before being drafted by the Seattle Mariners in June. DiRocco and Seton Hall teammate Jon Prosinski tallied the only two sub-2.00 ERAs among starters in the BIG EAST last season.
A former All-American for the Pirates, Cundari's name is found throughout the Seton Hall pitching record book. Following a stellar three-year career for Seton Hall, he was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 1985.
Cundari and the rest of the defending BIG EAST Champion Seton Hall baseball team will begin the 2012 season on Friday, Feb. 17 against Penn State as part of the 2012 BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge in Tampa, Fla.
