July 31, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University head coach Mark O'Brien announced today that assistant coach Mike Zirelli has been named the baseball program's recruiting coordinator. Zirelli, who will enter his fourth season with the Broncos this year, will take over the program's recruiting duties in addition to his responsibilities as SCU's pitching coach.
"Mike has established himself as one of the finest young coaches on the West Coast and he truly deserves this honor," O'Brien said of Zirelli. "He has tremendous recruiting skills and does an outstanding job for us, evidenced by the great performances of our freshman pitchers this past season."
Under Zirelli's tutelage, Santa Clara's pitching staff for much of the 2006 season was manned by true freshmen Justin Kuehn, Sean O'Neill, Matt Wickswat and closer Mark Willinsky. Wickswat was named to the Freshman All-America team by Collegiate Baseball News after posting a 9-2 record and 3.54 earned-run average, while Willinsky notched nine saves on the season, just one off of the all-time SCU mark for a freshman pitcher.
