You can just hear the pride and enthusiasm burst out of every sentence when Scott Gleichenhaus talks about the South Plainfield baseball team.
“It’s personal for me,” the Tigers coach said. “I grew up in town. A lot of the kids that are coming through, I grew up with their parents. Played ball with their parents. We went through the school system together. We went through the high school program together, so to me it’s personal.”
While Gleichenhaus could coach anywhere, putting on those green and white colors makes it extra special and the team’s success this spring makes it that more meaningful to him.
It’s personal.
Gleichenhaus is the Home News Tribune Greater Middlesex Conference Coach of the Year. The fourth-year skipper guided the Tigers to the tough Red Division pennant in a 22-6-1 season that saw South Plainfield reach the GMC Tournament and the North 2 Group 3 finals.
The team culture reflects their coach’s personality as the players had a loose atmosphere from smiles in the dugout to fun social media posts.
Senior captain Jayden Alvarez noted earlier in the year, “I think we all love each other and work hard for each other. So I knew we were going to come together. We all really pretty much grew up with each other, so it makes it easy.”
“We have a great time,” Gleichenhaus said. “We enjoy each other. I don’t yell at kids. If kids make a mistake, I know they feel worse than anybody. There’s never, in my opinion, a need to ever have to yell. I have quiet conversations with them.
“Some people may think that I’m not hard enough on these guys but when all’s said and done, I think they appreciate the style or my brand if you want to call it that. 'Hey, you make mistakes, forget about it. We make mistakes let’s just keep plugging ahead. Keep moving forward, you’ll get another opportunity.'”
When Gleichenhaus took over in 2021, he identified several freshmen as potential varsity players. The same thing a year later. Those guys developed as impact players with talented underclassmen filling in roles. They put pressure on opponents and set a program record with 123 stolen bases.
Gleichenhaus noted the one through five hitters were the best stretch he’s had in a lineup. Dom Massaro (.310, 24 runs 14 SBs), Dan Kapsch (.376, 38 hits, 31 runs), Zach Robinson (.462, 43 hits, 30 RBIs), Alvarez (.360, 31 hits, 27 RBIs) and Nick Irizarry (.378, 34 hits, 22 RBIs) provided a fearsome presence.
The balance got extended to Aiden McCarthy (.284, 11 RBIs), Brandon Bickunas (.277, 18 RBIs), Ryan Balent (10 RBIs) with Steve Studlack emerging at catcher. Kevin Penny (.290, 10 RBIs) also contributed offensively and was a key member of the pitching staff along with McCarthy and Mike Castagna, Andrew Csordos, Chase Donovan, Balent and Aldo Pigna.
“There wasn’t an easy out in our lineup,” Gleichenhaus said. “As a coach it just makes you proud knowing that all right, number one we got the right guys. Number two, all the work that these guys put in in the offseason has paid off and I tip my cap to those guys. I tip my cap to those parents, whoever they work with in that offseason, that motivation, that work ethic – it pays off.”
All the summer ball and fall seasons and winter workouts went into the success.
“It all calculates,” he continued. “It’s all part of the formula that you get what you put in and these guys work all year round across the board. These guys were hungry and as a coach that’s all you could ask for. It’s par for the course for this program.”
That's something he knows about quite well. Gleichenhaus was a star shortstop for the Tigers and graduated in 1994. He went on to play at Long Island University and Widener University. The coaching bug came early.
The summer before entering college, Gleichenhaus and a friend coached a middle school all-star team.
“The next thing I know, I’m doing it every summer for the next couple years,” he said. “It gave you a different appreciation seeing the game from a different perspective and I think it made me a better ball player. As a player, you see things one way. As a coach, you see things another. You have the opportunity to do both, I think that just opens you up to a whole different outlook, a different approach. It just makes you smarter and makes you a better person and makes you a better player across the board. So I recommend it to any young players.”
Gleichenhaus, who teaches history at South Plainfield Middle School, heeded his own advice. He had stints as the head coach at Piscataway for four years and at Plainfield for eight seasons, as well as an assistant at Metuchen.
He returned to South Plainfield as an assistant for the 2019 season and thought about stepping away from coaching to spend time with his family and toddler. However, he decided to take over as the head coach for Anthony Guida, who resigned in early 2021.
He now has two former South Plainfield stars on his staff in Sal Esposito and Mark Rennie, who played on that 1994 all-star team in Gleichenhaus’ first coaching gig. Things sometimes tend to go full circle.
“That’s part of the allure of what I want to bring to the table,” Gleichenhaus said. “Bring in all South Plainfield guys because in my mind, at least for what it’s worth, I feel like when you’re from a community you’re just willing to do whatever it takes, bring that energy, just that extra whatever.
‘Anything. Bring it to the table and help these guys achieve that ultimate success. It’s tradition. It’s just keeping it in the family and keeping it in the community, which is a proud community when it comes to baseball.”
It’s personal.
NJ Baseball: HNT Coach of Year South Plainfield's Scott Gleichenhaus (mycentraljersey.com)
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