By Alberto Arias—

The New Jersey City University Men’s Baseball team is entering the 2012 season with a clean slate. After finishing the 2011 campaign with a 10-28 record some changes were made to get this program back on track. The Gothic Knights have recently added new head coach, Jerry Smith, who coached for seven successful seasons at JFK Memorial High School. He became the 11th head coach in the program’s 65 year history. They have also revamped the rest of the coaching staff by adding Assistant Coach Matthew Cilento, Catching Coach Calvin Costanzo, and Pitching Coach Nick Casere. The baseball program is looking to turn over a new leaf and become a more competitive team in the 2012 campaign.

“Our expectations for this upcoming season are to compete. We are not going to put a win total on the season because you can’t control wins. We expect to play to the best of our ability each day and by focusing on the process the doing such the wins will be the byproduct,” said Coach Smith.

The NJCU pitching staff surrendered a disastrous 6.61 Earned Run Average (ERA) during the 2011 season. Under Coach Casere, who was a member of the 2007 national championship team, the Gothic Knights hope to provide a more competitive edge and deliver dominating performances against opposing offenses. The starting rotation will be led by the club’s ace Nelson Maldonado, 21, Mathematics, from Newark, NJ, Wendell Rodriguez, 20, Undeclared, from Jersey City, N.J, Delio Coutinho, 20, Undecalred from Colonia, N.J., Pedro Garcia, 20, from North Bergen, N.J and Alvin Carrasco, 21, from Jersey City, N.J.

The team will also have firepower from Center Fielder (CF) Francisco Ramirez, 22, Finance, from Jersey City, N.J., who led the team with 23 Runs Batted In (RBI) and 11 Doubles.

The 25 man roster will have 15 newcomers, who are hopeful to be key contributors to the team’s success and 10 players who are returning to provide leadership and stability. So the team will have to gel and play alongside each other’s strength starting March 3 against Centenary College at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex.

“Since goals should be measurable it is a daily occurrence to chart several aspects of the game or practice to give us objective measurement on whether or not that is the case. We feel as though if we play the game our way, the right way, the results will take care of themselves,” said Coach Smith.