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Mike Rizzo ’86
Head Coach
mrizzo@whittier.edu
Rizzo
begins his 19th season with the Poet baseball program, and
his ninth as the head coach. Born and raised in Pittsfield, MA, he
played his high school ball for Taconic High School where he was named
to the All-Berkshire County squad in 1982. He played two years at
Western New England College in Springfield, MA, and was named MVP of the
NAIA District 5 tournament in 1984. Rizzo transferred to Whittier
College in the fall of 1984, and was twice named to the All-SCIAC team.
He is the single season record holder for innings pitched, and posted a
17-9 record on the mound while at Whittier. He was named team MVP and
received the President’s Scholar Athlete Award his senior year. |
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Since
taking over the program in 1999, he has guided the Poets to six 20+ win
seasons, and looks to improve upon last year’s 20-19-1 record. In the
last eight years, 30 players have been named to the All-SCIAC team, six
were All-West Region, and two named to the Division III All-American
teams.
Coach
Rizzo resides in Cypress with his wife Susan (Sinfield ’88) and son
Ryan. |
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Eric begins his first year with Poets where he will serve as hitting
coach and assist with the infielders. He prepped at Mira Mesa High
School in San Diego and went on to Mesa Junior College where he was a
standout first baseman. As a freshman at Mesa, Eric was invited to play
in the Southern California Community College All-Star Game. Following
his two seasons at Mesa, Eric transferred to UCSD where he started at
first base. He graduated from UCSD in 2001.
Eric lives in Chino Hills with his wife Erin and daughter Jordan.
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John was a four year letter winner for the Poets and serves as a
Graduate Fellow. He will assist with the pitchers and outfielders. As
a member of the Poet pitching staff, John recorded two saves as a
freshman, but battled arm injuries his entire career. Despite not being
able to pitch, John essentially served as a player-coach his junior and
senior seasons.
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John is enrolled in Whittier’s teacher certification program and intends
to pursue a Master’s of Arts in Education. Coaching is in his blood as
his mother, Jodie Burton is the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at
Claremont Mudd-Scripts (CMS) and his father David (deceased) was the
former Head Men’s Basketball Coach and Athletic Director at CMS. |
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A.J. begins his
first season with the Poets and will work primarily with the catchers.
He prepped at Valhalla H.S. in El Cajon, CA and graduated in 2006 from
Denison University. In 2006, Jezierski was named to the First Team All-NCAC
for the second time of this career after he hit a career-best .402 with
31 RBI and a career-high five home runs. A.J. was also named to the NCAA
All Region team and was selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic
All-America squad. |
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career .364 hitter, Jezierski was also a first-team CoSIDA Academic
All-District selection. He leaves Denison ranked third in runs scored
(138), sixth in doubles (31) and hits (161), second in walks (82) and is
fifth all-time in batting average. |
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