Casey Gaynor is in his eighth season with the Red Hawks and serves as the pitching coach as well as recruiting coordinator, bringing a wealth of experience to the Montclair State staff after spending four seasons in both roles at Rutgers University.
During the 2024 campaign, Gaynor led senior right-hander to All-America honors for the first time in his career. Haveson was also an All-Region selection from D3baseball.com and the ABCA while also gaining First Team All-NJAC laurels. As a unit, the pitching staff pitched to an ERA of 4.70, the lowest in the past five seasons.
In 2016, Gaynor mentored senior ace Howie Brey to All-Big Ten honors after the left-hander worked 100.1 innings with four complete games. Brey worked to a 3.50 ERA with 84 strikeouts, a total that ranks third-most in a season in school history. Following the year, Brey was picked in the 31st round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros.
Gaynor was part of the staff in 2015 that helped the Scarlet Knights transition to the Big Ten Conference. After the season, junior Mark McCoy was selected in the 29th round of the MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals.
In 2014, Gaynor was tasked with reworking a staff that graduated 100 percent of the weekend starting innings. He was able to successfully mold the unit to pitch to a 3.41 ERA in conference play, with a freshman pitcher starting 41 games overall.
Several hurlers earned accolades following the season, including Brey picking up all-conference and Gaby Rosa recording American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year. Rosa also went on to register Freshman All-America status. A Rutgers pitcher collected a weekly honor from the conference office in eight of the 14 weeks of the season.
In his first season on staff, Gaynor had three seniors sign professional contracts, while the pitching unit allowed a combined two runs to College World Series participant Louisville and USF in games at the Big East Tournament to reach the semifinals of the event.
The Toms River, N.J., native, who graduated in 2010, spent two years playing baseball professionally. After proving highly successful on the mound for Rutgers, the Cleveland Indians signed the right-hander.
Gaynor spent one season with the Indians' Class A affiliate Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York Penn League. With the Scrappers, he compiled a 4.04 ERA with a 5-2 record, appearing in 16 games and starting in five. Following his year with the Indians organization, Gaynor spent the summer of 2011 pitching for the Newark Bears in an independent baseball league. There, he started 13 games and compiled a 5-4 record.
Following his stay in professional baseball, Gaynor stayed involved by teaching the game by offering his knowledge and guidance to pitchers at camps and clinics. From June 2018 until August 2019, Gaynor was the Director of Pitching at GAINS Sports Performance. At GAINS, he created personalized pitching plans for clients and worked with innovative pitching and hitting technology used to improve technique.
The Toms River East High School graduate ('06) was one of the best and most reliable pitchers to take the rubber for the Scarlet Knights. Gaynor covers the baseball record books, ranking first all-time at Rutgers in starts (52) and innings (317.0). He also ranks second in career strikeouts, punching out 227 hitters in four seasons.
As a senior in 2010, Gaynor tallied eight wins to tie him for sixth all-time on the Rutgers single-season list. That year, he helped lead the Scarlet Knights to a 30-26 record, which placed sixth in the Big East. Rutgers reached the semifinals of the conference tournament that year. Gaynor was a member of the squad that gave Hill his 1,000th career victory that season.
His baseball success dates back to Little League. As an 11-year-old, Gaynor played with former Rutgers teammate Todd Frazier on the Toms River East America All-Star team that captured the World Championship at the Little League World Series in 1998.
Baseball runs in his family as well, as his brother Colin played for the Scarlet Knights baseball team from 2003-05.
Gaynor, who still resides in Toms River, N.J., graduated from Rutgers with a major in history and a minor in psychology.
