Rappaport, NJIT ready to run it back in 2022

Here's all you need to know about the kind of season NJIT closer Jake Rappaport had in 2021.

There were only two pitchers in all of Division 1 baseball with at least eight wins and at least 11 saves. One of them was Arkansas closer Kevin Kopps. The Golden Spikes winner, the legend behind the "Kall the Kopps" movement every time Razorbacks head coach Dave Van Horn made the call to the bullpen at Baum-Walker Stadium. Third round MLB draft choice. Throws upper 90s. Power, power, power. 131 strikeouts. Everyone knows Kevin Kopps.

The other? You got it.

That's pretty elite company. Especially when you consider Rappaport doesn't throw upper 90s, or even upper 80s, doesn't have MLB scouts after him, didn't pitch for the team ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the year, struck out nearly 100 fewer batters (35), and didn't have any tailor-made Golden Spikes media campaigns.

But that makes what Rappaport did even more incredible, isn't it. Setting a school record for wins and saves in a season your team was 8-18 on April 17 and getting a win or save in 19 of your school's 27 victories (70.4 percent) is pretty mind blowing. No other D1 pitcher at a program above .500 finished had a decision in over 50 percent.

"I don't look at him as our closer," pitching coach Anthony DeLeo said ."He's Rapp. He might pitch all three games in a series. Or he might come in as early as the 5th and finish the game. He's a Swiss Army knife for us. Knowing that the moment is never too big for him is a great feeling as a coach. Knowing if you have a lead in the 7th or 8th inning, the game is over.

"He's the polar opposite of what you think of as a closer," DeLeo said. "But his strength is that he knows his identity as a pitcher. The work ethic, the ability and desire to pitch every day. He knows he can't pitch like he throws 97. He's 84-87 with some funk and deception and worked hard to have three pitches that he can throw in any count with complete confidence and conviction."

The radar gun can measure a lot of things. But it cannot measure heart and it cannot measure brains and it cannot measure toughness and determination. Throw in a healthy dose of South Jersey grit (Rappaport hails from Somerdale) and you might not have college baseball's hardest throwing closer, but you might just have its toughest.

"Rapp was unbelievable last season," said Jake's teammate and best friend since almost the time he set foot on the school's Newark campus, Paul Franzoni. "He put together the best pitching performance I've ever seen in my career. Every single game we were in with a chance to win, Jake was on the mound. Back-to-back days, twice in one day, it didn't matter.

"Ever since the first day we stepped on campus, we've had a special bond. Rapp embodies what it means to be a loyal friend. I know I can count on him for anything and vice versa."

It's that sense of loyalty that has pushed Rappaport to be who he is on the mound, the complete dedication to being the best he can be and an unwavering devotion to his NJIT teammates.

"I struggled a lot my junior year," said Rappaport, whose father suffered a heart attack in January 2020, and whose mind really was anywhere but the field when the school season started shortly thereafter. "But (our culture) goes back to being best friends with these guys for the rest of our lives. Not just being teammates, but seeing the guys on the field as your best friends, looking them in the eye and saying I cannot let that person down. That's where it comes from. Looking at the guy behind you and the guy in front of you and knowing they'd put their life down to help you with anything. And that you'd do the same for them."

So given that, what seems so insurmountable about the obstacles Rappaport and his teammates have faced at NJIT? That 9-40 record the spring before his class set foot on campus? Nothing. He and his teammates could see - could feel - what head coach Robbie McClellan and assistants Giuseppe Papaccio and DeLeo were building. And that 8-18 start? Please. Would have been easy to use COVID as an excuse, some bad injury luck as an excuse, and just pack it in for the year. Not a chance. These guys - Rappaport, Franzoni, twins David and Julio Marcano, Nick Hussey, Evan Gegeckas - they've learned enough about dealing with adversity that a rough start didn't mean a thing.

NJIT finished 19-6, won the America East title, became cult heroes at the NCAA Regionals in Fayetteville as they embraced the way of the Hogs much to the delight of the Arkansas fans, and earned New Jersey's first tourney win since 2011 by beating an outstanding Northeastern squad in the consolation round. The culture came first - a group of grinders who play freely and with confidence, win or lose, game after game. The kind of group that polices itself and tasted failure before it tasted success and so you know it won't willingly taste failure again.

The winning pitcher in that NCAA Tournament game, Ryan Fischer, went seven strong innings and is part of the NEXT generation of Highlanders - a bit more talented than the 2021 and 2022 classes, but who know none of this would be possible without guys like Rappaport and his classmates, players with the mentality and dedication to create something from nothing and leave everything to the program.

"Rapp is such a great guy to model yourself after as a pitcher," said Fischer, who then handed the ball to Rappaport and watched him do what he did so often last season - shut the door in a tight game. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone handle pressure situations better than he does."

As the 2021 season drew to a close, the "Super Six" were left with a decision. They could certainly go their separate ways if they wanted. Bigger schools were out there, bigger conferences. Entering the transfer portal for a graduate year is the NCAA's new favorite pastime. But this group more than any is NJIT baseball and always will be. Given the opportunity to run it back, there was no way it would happen anywhere else than Brick City.

"It was unanimous," Rappaport said. "We all knew we owed it to ourselves and to the program to come back and keep it going another year."

Back to the place where they've grown the culture. Brick by brick.