Cundari Honored By NJ Sportswriters
1/18/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Seton Hall baseball associate head coach Phil Cundari is being celebrated by the New Jersey Sportswriters Association for his "Distinguished Service to College Baseball" and will be honored at the organization's 77th Anniversary Banquet on January 20.
Cundari has been instrumental in guiding the pitching staff for the last 12 years and was a driving force behind the 2011 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. Seton Hall's ace, Joe DiRocco, was named an ABCA All-American and Most Outstanding Player of the 2011 BIG EAST Championship. DiRocco and Seton Hall teammate Jon Prosinski tallied the only two sub-2.00 ERAs among starters in the BIG EAST that season. For all of the success the Pirates' pitching staff saw in 2011, Cundari was named National Pitching Coach of the Year.
A Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Famer and long-time assistant coach, Cundari, has served on the Pirates' coaching staff for the last 12 years and has two BIG EAST Championship rings to show for it. Under Cundari's tutelage, 18 players have been either selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft or signed as a free agent.
A former All-American for the Pirates, Cundari's name is found throughout the Seton Hall pitching record book. Following a stellar three-year playing career for Seton Hall, he was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 1985.
Cundari and the rest of the Seton Hall baseball team will begin the 2013 season on Friday, Feb. 15 at the University of North Carolina.
More information about the banquet, including a full list of honorees, can be found at their website, www.njsportswriters.org.
