Head Coach: Bill Guerrero No. 2 (11th Year) (94-178-2)
Guerrero enters his eleventh season as the head baseball coach for Purchase baseball program. Previously he was the coach of the Stratford, CT American Legion baseball team, where he was able to place many players into college programs.
A native of Norwalk, CT, Guerrero attended Norwalk High School, where he was selected to the All-City and Connecticut State All-Star team in 1988, and then went to the University of Connecticut.
Under his leadership, the program has achieved many individual accomplishments and honors.
He has had four former players play professionally. Sean Gottschalk (Class of 2008), suited up for the New York State Capitols of the New York State League (2009) and Coastal Kingfish of the Texas League (2009). George Kennedy (2010) (New York Capitols), Joshua Leon (2010) (New York Empire) and Francis Delgado (2010) (New York Capitols) signed with the New York State Baseball League in 2010.
Four players have made the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region team. In 2011, the program’s all-time hits leader, outfielder Austin Groves received All-Skyline 2nd team honors. He also was the program’s first to receive ECAC 2nd Team. Others included former first baseman George Kennedy, who made the 3rd team in 2009; second baseman and former captain, Jared Isaacson, who made the 3rd team in 2010 and senior third baseman Dan Stroud, who made the 2nd team in 2010.
Twenty players have achieved All-Conference honors in the previous Northeast Athletic Conference and the current Skyline Conference, including Albert Baez (2011), who received the Pitcher of the Year award in the Skyline Conference. Kennedy also achieved the prestigious honor in receiving Purchase College’s Male Athlete of the Year (2009).
Academically, Dan Conners (2009) and Bryan Donovan (2009) shared the Purchase College Student-Athletes of the Year in 2009. Forty-three players have also received conference scholar athletes, including two players in 2011 (Junior Miller Lulow, Sophomore Jonathan Lul).
Other accomplishments include five members on the 100 hit club. Austin Groves (2011), Jared Isaacson (2010), George Kennedy (2010), and Michael Shea (2008) and Josh Spielberg in 2012.
The program also has former players who are currently working or have worked in professional baseball. Anthony Aloisi (2008) is working for the Seattle Mariners in scouting and player development; Steve Miraglia (2009) works as a Production Assistant for CBS Sports and the New York Yankees; and Mike Shea previously worked for the Milwaukie Brewers AA affiliate in Huntsville, AL.
As a team though, Guerrero said, "Last year was a disappointing season. We were not as deep as prior team but our talent and team chemistry was there. Unfortunately we were unable to respond to key injuries to Justin Sherman and Josh Spielberg, both middle of the order guys. Although we have some big wins against some strong programs, we were unable to sustain the performance all year especially after the big 15 inning loss to perennial conference champ SUNY Famingdale. The exciting part of this is that we return most of our team this year and have added some real good depth to the program. We play many top ranked programs, such as Keystone, SUNY Farmingdale, and SUNY Old Westbury as well as Worchester St., SUNY Brockport, Franklin & Marshall, and FDU Floram. Each of these teams are perennial top 25 programs. We are poised to face these challenges and compete for the conference championship.”
Guerrero continued, "Although we graduated some top talent, like outfielder Mark Donahue, and invaluable leaders like catcher Will Bernstein, third baseman Mike Marrone, and right hand pitcher Chris Carboni, we have a solid core of returning players such as red-shirt senior shortstop Josh Spielberg, senior catcher Frank Fiumara, and previous All-Conference players in senior pitcher Matt Paz (2nd Team All-Conference), senior third baseman Dan Stroud (1st Team All-Conference and All-Region), and senior utility player Kevin McQuade (2nd Team All-Conference). If things lineup right, we should be a formidable opponent one our path to the playoffs and for the conference championship.”
"I used to like this quote from Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson, 'You can learn little from victory. You can learn everything from defeat.' Now that we have the talent, to quote the late Hall of Fame coach John Wooden, ‘Success is a piece of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.”
Guerrero earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at University of Connecticut in 1993 and his Masters in Business Administration from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. He teaches Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics at Purchase College, and is also the Executive Director of Purchase College Association, Inc., a $16M entrepreneurial not-for-profit, responsible for the college’s many business enterprises including Purchase Park 2 Fly, the discount airport parking service.
He was very active with Special Olympics of CT as the softball coach for the Shelton, CT traditional team for seven years, and recently ended his baseball career as member of the Monroe Top Hats in the Connecticut Men’s Baseball League. seven years ago he was an assistant coach for the Stamford Robins (
www.stamfordrobins.com) affiliated with the highly competitive Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League (
www.acbl-on-line.com).
He has one child, Austin, who is 13, and wife, Maggie. They reside in West Haven, CT.
