Nick Guarino returns to the staff of head coach Mike Odenwaelder and will serve as a co-recruiting coordinator and pitching coach.
In his first year as pitching coach, Guarino’s staff led the country in strikeout-to-walk ratio, was second in walks per nine innings and was fourth in walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP).
Guarino brought six years of experience as a left-handed collegiate pitcher to the program – four as an undergraduate at Division III Clark University (2018-21) and two as a graduate student at Division II Southern Connecticut State University (2022-23).
In his 55-game collegiate career, Guarino made 51 starts with a 23-17 record and 4.23 ERA in 319 1/3 innings with 214 strikeouts and 64 walks. In two graduate seasons at Southern Connecticut, Guarino was 18-3 with a 4.11 ERA and 118 strikeouts and 30 walks in 168 2/3 innings.
At Southern, Guarino started all 29 games in which he appeared, serving as a team captain in 2023. He won nine games each season (equalling the third-most in a season in program history), losing a total of only three. In his first season, Guarino allowed only two earned runs in eight innings in a 6-2 win against Wilmington (DE) University in the opening round of the NCAA East Regional tournament at New Castle, DE. That year, the Owls posted a 31-15-1 record and gained an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament with Guarino, who won nine straight decisions after starting and losing the season-opener and was named all-conference and all-region.
At Clark, Guarino was a two-year captain who struck out 96 batting in 150 2/3 innings in helping the Cougars to a 50-50 record.
In the summers of 2020 and 2021, Guarino pitched for the Nashua Silver Knights of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), winning nine of 11 decisions and earning all-FCBL honors each year. In 2020, he was 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 24.0 innings in helping the Silver Knights to the league championship.
At East Haven High School, Guarino was a three-year starting pitcher and two-year captain who twice attained All-State honorable mention status.
Guarino holds a B.S. Degree in Business Management from Clark and an MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Administration from Southern.
