Every Friday for the past two seasons, senior Jon Prosinski has gotten the start as the ace of the Pirates' pitching staff. Now with his Pirates career coming to a close, Prosinski will be leaving the program as one of the best pitchers in school history.
On April 5 against Rutgers, Prosinski set the Seton Hall record for career starts and innings pitched in a 15-1 complete game victory.
"It's a great honor," Prosinski said. "You can go down the list of the great players that have played here, the great pitchers that have pitched here; guys have been very high draft picks and all-stars. To say I've pitched more than some of those guys, is a great honor."
He also has the chance to set two more records before the season is over, being 12 strikeouts away from tying the strikeout record while he is three wins away from tying the wins record.
Currently, Prosinski is tied with Associate Head Coach Phil Cundari for second place with 26 career wins. Cundari said her welcomes Prosinski passing him while giving the senior righty even more praise.
"What else could a coach want," Cundari said. "I hope he shatters every one of my records but more importantly the other records that are there because he is very deserving of it. The teams that he has been a part of are deserving of having to play with probably the best pitcher in our history."
Head coach Rob Sheppard added on to the praise, and said that every accolade is well deserved.
"He earned everything he got," Sheppard said. "He competes, he works really hard, he's a really good teammate, works excessively hard at getting stronger over the past few years."
While the records and accolades keep coming, like being named Big East Preseason Pitcher of the Year before the season and First Team All-Big East last season, Prosinski is staying focused but not on the records.
"As it's getting closer people are starting to talk more and more about it," Prosinski said. "At the end of last year when I knew I was coming back this year I kind of looked at it to see where I was. Once the season gets going, it's just another thing that will keep you distracted out there."
In the Pirates run through the Big East Championships and NCAA Tournament in 2011, Prosinski finished his sophomore season with a Big East leading 1.91 ERA and finished the year with a six hit, three strikeout shutout of Arizona in the first game of the NCAA Tournament.
This season, Prosinski has three more regular season starts against Cincinnati, University of South Florida and St. John's the next three weekends. Along with the Big East Championship to further write his name in the Seton Hall record book.
"I can't do much more than look back at it and smile," Prosinski said of his career. "Just incredibly lucky to play baseball here with some of the best teammates I've ever had and with the amazing support from the coaches and everyone around."
Prosinski makes his next start at 6:30p.m. on Friday on the road against Cincinnati. The fourth place Pirates have an opportunity to keep pace in the conference standings.
Stephen Valenti can be reached at stephen.valenti@student.shu.edu. He can also be found on Twitter @StevvieV.
