Head Coach Steve Owens and his staff were tasked with re-tooling a roster that lost four underclassmen and an incoming signee to the MLB Draft and brought in 27 newcomers to join the 11 returners that make up the 2025 baseball roster.
In addition to the bevy of new players, Owens hired college baseball veteran Mike McRae as the team’s new pitching coach. McRae brings a breadth of experience to Rutgers, having served as the head coach at William & Mary for the previous three seasons and having stints as the pitching coach at VCU and head coach at Canisius and Niagara before that.
Pitchers
Having to replace the bulk of last season’s innings on the mound, McRae will turn to an equal part of returners, freshmen and transfers to lead the way. The 2025 pitching staff features plenty of different looks, from power arms to sidearmers and plenty of in between. For the opening weekend, RU will turn to Justin Shadek, Landon Mack and Preston Prince as its starting rotation. A redshirt freshman, Shadek is primed for the first action of his collegiate career after spending 2024 rehabbing an injury. A true freshman, Mack was one of the program’s highest-ranked recruits in the class of 2024 at No. 388 nationally by Perfect Game. The Bishop Eustace product had a strong fall and looks to continue that into the season. A transfer from Niagara, Prince served as a weekend starter for the Purple Eagles last season and has plenty of big-game experience, starting the team’s NCAA Regional game against Oklahoma State.
Jordan Falco, Jack Kirchner and Zack Konstantinovsky make up the returning right-handed arms, with Falco providing the most experience of the group. Falco has the most experience of any returning pitcher with 42 innings a season ago in various roles. Kirchner is a redshirt freshman who is poised to make his collegiate debut after missing 2024 with an injury. Konstantinovsky made eight weekend starts last season and pitched to a 5.29 ERA in 34 innings before missing the rest of the season due to injury.
Joe Mazza is the lone returning lefty and the most experienced returner based on appearances, with 63 career games, including a team-high 24 a year…
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