Hartford, Conn. - Athletic Director Michael Renwick has announced that assistant Mark Lambert (North Branford, Conn.) has been hired as Interim Head Baseball Coach at Trinity College. Lambert, the team’s associate head coach for the last two seasons, is replacing Bill Decker who resigned two days ago to become the head coach at Harvard. Lambert will coach the Bantams through the current academic year, along with current assistant coaches Steve Cervizzi and Ernie May. The College will initiate a national search for a new coach in the spring of 2013.
“I am elated that Mark Lambert and the rest of the staff
have accepted my offer to stay with the program through the
academic year,” said Renwick. “It was my hope that we
would be able to gain stability and continuity for our
student-athletes moving through the year. Coach Lambert possesses a
great deal of baseball knowledge and I am very confident that our
goals for this year will remain unchanged. We have a great core of
students returning, along with the addition of some very talented
first years, so I am confident that the Bantam baseball program
will continue to flourish.”
Lambert, who arrived at Trinity as an assistant in 2005 and has
been the team’s pitching coach since 2006, has developed the
Bantam pitchers into one of the finest staffs in the country.
Trinity pitchers led all divisions of college baseball in team
earned run average in 2008 (1.97), and in 2009 was the team ERA
leader in Division III (2.77). Under Coach Lambert’s
tutelage, four pitchers have earned All-American honors, and two
have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams.
Prior to Trinity, Lambert served as the associate head coach at New
Haven for four seasons, helping the Chargers compile a 103-43
record, earn two NCAA Tournament bids and win a conference
title.
Lambert also started the baseball program at Norwalk Community College and served as the head coach for seven years. At Norwalk, he compiled an impressive 272-42 record, and guided his team to five consecutive NJCAA World Series appearances including a National Championship in 1998.
Lambert developed 23 All Americans and coached 21 players that
were either drafted or signed professional contracts, including
current Major League pitcher Erik Bedard. He was named North East
Regional Coach of the Year five times and was named National Coach
of the Year by the NJCAA and the American Baseball Coaches
Association in 1998. Lambert was also an assistant coach at
his alma mater, Sacred Heart, for four seasons, and for the
Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League, and the Mohawk Valley
Land Sharks of the North East League. Lambert has a
bachelor’s degree from Sacred Heart in business
administration and master’s degree in counseling and human
services from Bridgeport.
Trinity enjoyed an outstanding 2012 season, finishing with a 34-11
record and winning the New England Small College Athletic
Conference (NESCAC) Championship title. Trinity qualified for
the 2012 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, which the
Bantams won in 2008 with Lambert as its pitching coach with a
record-setting 45-1 final record, and defeated Southern Maine,
13-8, and St. Joseph's (Maine), 6-0, before bowing out with
back-to-back losses to eventual champion Wheaton, 6-4 and Western
New England, 2-1, respectively.
“It is a great honor to coach at Trinity College and I
appreciate the faith that Athletic Director Mike Renwick has placed
in me,” said Lambert. “I could not ask for a better
group of young men to coach and will certainly give them my best
effort. I have spent the last eight years with Coach Decker, and I
appreciate his friendship and wish him the best of luck at
Harvard. My staff and I are excited about the upcoming season
and hope to uphold the great tradition we have at
Trinity.”