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Former Kean University pitching standout
Nick Cesare joined the New Jersey City University baseball coaching staff in 2011 as Gothic Knights' head coach Jerry Smith's first hire and currently serves as the Associate Head Coach, primarily overseeing the team's pitching staff. Additionally, midway through the 2020-21 academic year, Cesare was also appointed to the position of Assistant Business Manager at NJCU.
Prior to joining the Gothic Knights, Cesare served as assistant coach at Spotswood High School in Middlesex County in Spring 2011. The 2010 Middlesex County Senior Legion Coach of the Year, he guided the 2010 South Plainfield Senior Legion team to the county tournament championship and a 16-6 record. Cesare broke into coaching as an assistant coach with the Middlesex Matrix Prospect Team from 2009-10. He is currently a baseball instructor at CK’s Baseball Training Facility in Marlboro, NJ.
In four seasons on the mound for Division III powerhouse Kean from 2006-10 playing for Coach Neil Ioviero, Cesare posted a 15-5 record and a 3.71 ERA in 40 appearances, including 28 starts with six complete games. In 203.2 career innings he struck out 142 batters and walked only 66, while allowing just 84 earned runs (104 total) and 215 hits. He graduated in August 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in History.
As a senior at Kean he was selected to the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (NJCBA) Division II/III First-Team All-State Team and Third-Team ABCA Mid-Atlantic Region after producing a masterful campaign which included an 8-1 record and 2.60 ERA in 13 appearances and 12 starts for a Cougar club that won the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) championship and advanced to the NCAA Regionals. That year he fired 60 strikeouts in 86.2 innings of work while walking just 22 and tossed three complete games. He allowed only 25 earned runs and 82 hits all season.
Cesare, who missed the 2007 season with an injury that required a medical hardship waiver, was still part of the Cougars’ NCAA Division III national championship team that went 43-8. During his career at Kean, the program appeared in five NCAA Tournaments and three consecutive NCAA World Series (2007-09) while winning three Mid-Atlantic Regional championships, NJAC titles in 2008 and 2010 and three NJAC regular season crowns (2007, 2008, 2009). Overall, Kean enjoyed a combined 191-59 record and a remarkable .764 winning percentage during his career.
Cesare broke through as a freshman in 2006 with a 4-1 record in 10 appearances (eight starts) and 4.63 ERA, tossing 37 strikeouts in 56.1 innings. He was selected to the 2006 NJCBA All-State Rookie Team and was the NJAC Rookie Pitcher of the Week in week six of the season. He returned from injury in 2008 and was 1-1 with a 2.10 ERA in eight appearances (three starts), firing 16 strikeouts in 25.2 innings. As a junior in 2009, Cesare was 2-2 in nine games (five starts), including one complete game and one shutout, while striking out 29 batters in 35.0 innings.
A 2005 graduate of South Plainfield High School, Cesare played four seasons of baseball (three varsity) for the Tigers and Coach Ray Ciecwisz. He earned back-to-back First-Team All-Middlesex County accolades in 2004 and 2005 while finishing his career with 12 pitching victories and a .338 batting average. He played in the 2005 Middlesex County Senior All-Star Game.
Cesare continues to reside in South Plainfield, N.J., with his wife and sons.
