St. Thomas Aquinas Director of Athletics Gerald Oswald announced the promotion of Associate Head Baseball Coach Jon Garvey to Head Baseball Coach. Jon Garvey enters his 1st season as Head Coach and 11th year on the Spartan Baseball coaching staff.
Prior to coaching he was a standout player at St. Edmunds Prep (Brooklyn), where he set the all-time fielding percentage record while serving as captain on a the winningest team in school history. Following high school, Garvey continued his playing career at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Originally a second baseman, he was converted to catcher and hit .462 in limited at-bats in 2008, while helping the team to win their first ECC Regular Season Championship. Voted captain in 2009, he helped the team to a regular season and conference tournament finish of 3rd and served as a player-coach, tutoring the younger catchers. He graduated STAC in 2009 with a 3.3 GPA in Sports Management (Honor Society).
Immediately after graduating he was hired as an assistant baseball coach. Administratively, Coach Garvey serves as the Recruiting Coordinator for Spartan Baseball and in that role has been instrumental in the Spartans’ recent ascendancy as the top team in the East Region along with being nationally ranked. He has been a player and coach on eight championship teams at STAC ('08, '12, ’13, ’14, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17, 18).
His coaching responsibilities include, hitting, catching, and team defense. Under his guidance the Spartans have excelled offensively, winning the ECC team batting title 5 consecutive years (2012 to 2016), while averaging .300 during that time.
Along with the team accomplishments, several players have excelled behind Garvey’s tutelage and recruitment.
In 2012 Mike Russo was the ECC Triple Crown Winner (.383, 6 HRs, 46 RBIs), Frank Salerno was the ECC Player of the Year and Stanley Susana was the ECC Rookie of the Year.
In 2013 Russo was named All-American (1st Team) and led the ECC in HRs (11) and RBIs (62). Kenny Kirshner had 74 hits and Efrain Bautista hit .438 in conference, both marks tops in the ECC.
In 2014, five Spartans hit above the .300 mark, including Rich Baerga, who hit .368 to capture the ECC batting title in 2014. STAC won the East Regional and made their first trip to the national championship.
In 2015, Coach Garvey guided another potent offensive attack, as STAC notched its fifth straight ECC Batting Title. In fact the STAC offense was ranked #1 in all twelve offensive categories. The freshman duo of Joey Pena and Giovanni Dingcong took home the ECC Batting Title & ECC Rookie of the Year, respectively. Pena hit .356 and Dingcong hit .351 with a league leading six home runs. Susana finished his record breaking career with 263 hits and was named the 2015 ECC Player of the Year.
In 2016 the Spartans won the ECC Regular Season and led the ECC in on-base % and slugging %.
In 2017 the Spartans won the East Region and made a 2nd trip to the National Championship. Dingcong clubbed 20 HRs, setting the STAC single-season record. The Spartan offense was solid all year, especially in the last two games of the East Region Tournament, scoring a combined 25 runs.
In 2018 the Spartans won the ECC Regular Season & Tournament, but lost in the East Region Championship game. Joey Pena notched his 3rd ECC Batting Title and surpassed Susana as the career hit leader with 280 hits. Giovanni Dingcong finished his career with 47 HRs ( a new STAC record). Both were selected in the 2018 MLB Draft.
During his 10 years here Jon has recruited and coached many players that have gone on to play professionally
2010 Mike Aviles (Seattle Mariner, 42nd Round), 2011 Matt Smith (Trinidad-Pecos), 2012 Andrew Hansack (Roswell- Pecos), 2013 Mike Russo (Road Warriors - Frontier), 2013 Frank Salerno (Fargo- American Assoc.), 2014 Ken Kirscher (Schaumburg- Frontier), 2014 Rob Frank (Schaumburg- Frontier), 2014 Stephen Sunday (Florence- Frontier), 2015 Nick May (Rockland- Can-Am), 2015 Brandon Fischer (Ottawa- Can-Am), 2015 Stanley Susana ( Dominican National - Can-Am), 2015 Rich Baerga (Old Orchard Beach- Empire), 2016 Matt Kostalos (Rockland- Can-Am), 2017 Mark Shkrelja (New Hampshire- Empire), 2017 Anthony Shkrelja (New Hampshire- Empire), 2018 Frank Mostcatello (Rockland- Can-Am), 2018 Chris Pennell (Rockland -Can-Am), 2018 Giovanni Dingcong (Oakland A's- 30th Round), 2018 Joey Pena (Oakland A's, 33rd Round), 2019 Chris Cepeda ( High Point- Atlantic),
Outside of his baseball responsibilities Garvey serves as the Asst. Athletic Director / Facilities & Fitness Center Manager. For several years he assisted in NCAA Compliance. In 2014, he oversaw major renovations and additions to the Kraus Fitness Center. In 2018 he was instrumental STAC’s successful inaugural Sprint Football season, overseeing game-day operations for all home games.
Jon, wife Cindy (who also works for STAC in the Financial Aid Office), 6 yr-old son, Dylan & 3 yr-old son Luca reside in Orangeburg, N.Y.--