Now in his fifth season as the head coach of the Holy Cross baseball team in 2012, Greg DiCenzo has continued to bring the program to new heights. The Crusaders have gone 93-104-1 overall and 41-37 in Patriot League regular season play during DiCenzo’s tenure, with the team posting four straight 20-win seasons for the first time in program history from 2008-2011. Holy Cross also made a school-record three consecutive appearances in the Patriot League Tournament from 2008-2010.

The 2011 season saw the Crusaders finish with a winning overall record for the first time since 1991 at 24-23-1. Two players earned first team All-Patriot League honors, three players were named to the New England All-Star team and three players were named to the inaugural Patriot League All-Academic team. The Holy Cross pitching staff broke the school single-season records for saves and strikeouts, and lefthanded pitcher John Pedrotty was drafted in the 13th round and signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pedrotty was the first Division I college player from the state of Massachusetts selected in the 2011 draft, while becoming the 127th player in the history of the Holy Cross baseball program to sign a professional contract.  

In 2010 the Crusaders finished in third place in the Patriot League with a 10-10 mark in conference games, while going 26-26 overall.  Holy Cross then won its first-ever Patriot League playoff series by taking two out of three game at Lehigh, and advanced to its first Patriot League Championship series in program history. Catcher Stephen Wadsworth earned Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors, in addition to being named a third team Freshman All-American. Holy Cross also tied for the conference lead in All-Patriot League selections with six, the most ever in program history. The 2010 Crusaders also broke school team records in a number of offensive categories, with a .319 batting average, a .477 slugging percentage, 367 runs, 569 hits, 114 doubles, 45 home runs, 852 total bases and 340 runs batted in. Defensively, the team broke school records with 1,291 putouts and 557 assists, and tied the record number of double plays turned (42). Lastly, the 2010 squad broke school pitching records for team saves (10), innings pitched (430-1/3) and total strikeouts (300).   

During DiCenzo’s second season at the helm in 2009, Holy Cross went 22-27 overall and took third place in the Patriot League at 11-7. The Crusaders also qualified for the Patriot League Tournament, where they dropped a close three-game series to eventualy conference champion Army. The 2009 season marked just the third time in program history that the Patriot League Player of the Year donned the purple and white, as Matt Perry took home the award.

In his first season at Holy Cross, DiCenzo was named the 2008 Patriot League Coach of the Year as the Crusaders qualified for the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2001. He became only the second coach to ever be named the league’s coach of the year in his first season. Holy Cross had a 21-28 overall record (11-9 in Patriot League play) marking the school’s first 20-win season since 1980. Also for the first time in school history a Holy Cross pitcher was named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year as Matt Shapiro earned the honor.

DiCenzo came to Holy Cross from Northeastern University, where he served as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for five seasons. During his time at Northeastern, the Huskies won the America East Tournament and advanced to the Baton Rouge Regional in 2003. The Huskies won the America East Regular Season Championship in 2004 and 2005. The Northeastern pitching staff set the school record for strikeouts in DiCenzo’s first four seasons as pitching coach. He had two pitchers earn America East Pitcher of the Year honors and four of his pitchers were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, including Adam Ottavino who was drafted in the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 and who made his Major League debut in 2010. Additionally, six other positional players were drafted or signed to professional contracts while DiCenzo held the title of Recruiting Coordinator / Pitching Coach at Northeastern.

DiCenzo was also an assistant coach for the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League for four seasons from 2002-2005. While on the Cape, DiCenzo had the opportunity to work with many of the top collegiate baseball players in the country, including future major leaguers David Aardsma, Matt Antonelli, Cliff Pennington, Jacoby Ellsbury, Chris Leroux, Jensen Lewis, Chad Huffman and Brian Bocock.

A native of Duxbury, Mass., DiCenzo earned three degrees from St. Lawrence University with a Bachelor of Science Degree (1998), a Master’s Degree in Education (2000) and a Master’s Degree in Education Administration (2002). He spent four seasons on the baseball coaching staff at his alma mater and two seasons as an assistant football coach. In baseball, he was an assistant coach for three seasons and served as interim head coach in 2002. As an athlete, DiCenzo was a four-year member of the St. Lawrence baseball team, captaining the team as a senior. He was also a one-year member of St. Lawrence’s men’s soccer team, and a four-time All-Conference kicker and punter for the school’s football team.

Jeff Kane is in his third season as assistant coach and will now coordinate all recruiting efforts for the baseball team in 2012. Under Kane's guidance as hitting coach in his first season, the Holy Cross offense broke school records in nine batting categories including batting average (.319), slugging percentage (.477), at bats (1,785), runs (367), hits (569), doubles (114), home runs (45), total bases (852) and RBI (340). Last year, his hitters ranked second in the Patriot League with a .288 batting average. He helped guide Nick Ciardiello, who broke the Holy Cross career home run record as a senior and Matt Perry, a MLB draft pick who broke the Holy Cross career hits records.

Prior to joining the Crusader staff, Kane was the varsity baseball coach at Westford Academy (Westford, Mass.) from 2006-2009. As head coach, the Grey Ghosts posted a 60-27 mark (.690 winning percentage) and a berth in post-season play every year.  During the 2009 season, the Grey Ghosts finished 17-4 and won their second straight Dual County League (Large Division) title, marking the first time in school history that the team has won back-to-back titles. In 2008, Kane led his team to a 21-3 record and an appearance in the Division 1 North Sectional Final, the furthest Westford Academy had advanced in the state tournament since 2003. For his accomplishments, Kane was named the 2008 Lowell Sun Coach of the Year.

Kane spent four seasons coaching for the Lowell All-Americans of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) and got his coaching start in 2002 as an assistant coach for Littleton High School in Littleton, Mass.

Kane played at the collegiate level under head coach Jack Leggett at Clemson University from 1997 to 1999. The team ranked in the top-25 nationally in all three seasons. While at Clemson, he also played in the New England Collegiate Baseball League for the Rhode Island Reds. Growing up in Acton, Mass., Kane was a four year starter and three year All-Star at Acton Boxborough Regional High School from 1993 to 1996.

Baseball runs in the family as Kane's brother Ryan was a Cape Cod League All Star and sixth round selection of the Anaheim Angels in the 1995 Major League Baseball draft.  He has played and coached at the professional level since. Jeff currently resides in Maynard, Mass. with his wife, Lilly, and son, Travis.

Ron Rakowski enters his second season as assistant coach for the Holy Cross baseball team in 2012. He handles the Crusaders pitching staff and assist with recruiting duties. Prior to Holy Cross, Ron was the head assistant/pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Tacoma Community College in Tacoma, Wash. While at TCC, Ron helped recruit and place over 40 players to four-year schools, including seven to the NCAA Division I level. TCC also made the NWAACC playoffs in all five seasons during his tenure there. In addition to his baseball duties on campus, Rakowski also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Physical Education department and supervised game management at TCC home athletic events. He also coached for the RIPS Brewers, one of the top high school select teams in the state. During his time with the Brewers, he worked with 2010 MLB First Round (17th overall) draft pick, Josh Sale, and third round draft pick, Ryan Brett.  

For the two years prior to his arrival at TCC, Rakowski worked as the head assistant/pitching coach at Willamette University in Salem, Ore. Before arriving at Willamette, he was an assistant coach at San Francisco State for three years where he worked with the Gators pitching staff and assisted in recruiting. He was also an assistant coach at DeAnza Junior College in San Jose, Calif., where he helped the team to the California Junior College state playoffs. In 2002, Rakowski coached in the Northwoods Collegiate Summer League as head coach of the St. Cloud River Bats in St. Cloud, Minn. While there, he coached current Major League players Thomas Diamond and Jason Jaramillo and led the team to the second best record in the league that season.

Rakowski also served as a coach with the Fresno Royals, a collegiate summer league team. The Royals participated in the National Baseball Congress World Series twice in his five years there. Before coaching at the collegiate level, Rakowski coached at Clovis High School in Clovis, Calif., helping the team to back-to-back USA Today High School National Championships (1997 and 1998).

During the summer, Rakowski works as a coach at the Stanford All-Star Baseball Camp as well as high school All-Star camps at Gonzaga and Kansas. He received his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from San Francisco State in 2002 and recently earned his master's degree in teaching with a specialization in teaching leadership from National University in 2009. He currently resides in Holden, Mass., with his wife, Barbara, and daughter, Susannah.