FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Oct. 8, 2012) – Former standout Rutgers pitcher Casey Gaynor has joined the baseball coaching staff, the program announced. Gaynor begins his first season as an assistant coach, focusing primarily on working with the pitchers.
“It’s an honor coming back after playing for Coach Hill,” said Gaynor. “To be able to return to Rutgers and coach is a privilege. I am excited to work with this talented pitching staff.”
The Toms River, N.J., native, who played his senior season for Coach Hill’s squad in 2010, spent two years playing baseball professionally. After proving highly successful on the mound for Rutgers, the Cleveland Indians signed the right-hander.
Gaynor spent one season with the Indians’ Class A affiliate Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York Penn League. With the Scrappers, he compiled a 4.04 ERA with a 5-2 record, appearing in 16 games and starting in five. Following his year with the Indians organization, Gaynor spent the summer of 2011 pitching for the Newark Bears in an independent baseball league. There, he started 13 games and compiled a 5-4 record.
While he wasn’t pitching over the past two years, Gaynor has been teaching the game to stay involved, offering his knowledge and guidance to pitchers at camps and clinics.
The Toms River East High School graduate (’06) was one of the best and most reliable pitchers to take the rubber for the Scarlet Knights. Gaynor covers the baseball record books, ranking first all-time at Rutgers in starts (52) and innings (317.0). He also ranks second in career strikeouts, punching out 227 hitters in four seasons.
As a senior in 2010, Gaynor tallied eight wins to tie him for sixth all-time on the Rutgers single-season list. That year, he helped lead the Scarlet Knights to a 30-26 record, which placed sixth in the BIG EAST. Rutgers reached the semifinals of the conference tournament that year. Gaynor was a member of the squad gave Coach Fred Hill his 1,000th career victory that season.
In the same year, Gaynor pitched 97.1 innings, fifth on the all-time list, while starting 15 games, third all-time at Rutgers. Gaynor was also a Cape Cod All-Star in 2009 when he played for the Orleans Firebirds in a summer baseball league.
His baseball success dates back to Little League. As an 11-year-old, Gaynor played with former Rutgers teammate Todd Frazier, who is now a member of the Cincinnati Reds, on the Toms River East America All-Star team that captured the World Championship at the Little League World Series in 1998.
Baseball runs in his family as well, as his brother Colin played for the Scarlet Knights baseball team from 2003-05.
Gaynor graduated from Rutgers with a major in History and a minor in Psychology. He currently resides in Toms River, N.J., and was born on April 10, 1987.
