1st Season
Russ Stupienski has been named the 11th baseball coach in MCCC history. He has served as an Assistant Baseball Coach at MCCC since 2012. Stupienski takes over for Fred Carella who led the Vikings to the 2022 World Series in Enid, Oklahoma.
Stupienski is a graduate of Northern Burlington High School. The Columbus, NJ native earned numerous honors while at Northern Burlington, including becoming the first Northern Burlington player to ever finish a season with a .500 batting average or better, hitting .509 on the season. He was named 1st Team All-Area Utility, 1st Team All-Liberty Division Catcher and 2nd Team All South Jersey Utility (Courier Post and Burlington County Times). Stupienski was also named the Courier Post’s Unsung Hero Award Winner in his senior year.
Prior to his arrival at MCCC, Stupienski also had a stellar MCALL (Mercer County American Legion League) career and was named MVP of the league in 2009. In 2009, he was top five in the league in 8 of 16 offensive and pitching categories and was named 1st Team MCALL by both The Trenton Times and Trentonian. Stupienski was named the MCALL Player of the Year in 2008 and 1st Team Utility by The Trentonian. He also won the MCALL batting title that season.
Stupienski was catcher and closer for the Vikings in 2009 and 2010. In his sophomore season at Mercer, Stupienski hit .325 overall with 25 RBIs and 7 doubles, earning him All GSAC (Garden State Athletic Conference) honors.
Stupienski continued his baseball career at St. Peter’s College. In his senior season, Stupienski led the Peacocks with a team high 45 hits in 47 games played. In his junior season, Stupienski finished 2nd in batting average (.307) and .OBP (.403) and 1st in walks with 19 on the season. He threw out 20 base runners, which was first overall in the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). Stupienski also was 2nd on the team with 2 saves and struck out a team single game high 8 batters against NJIT in 2011.
Stupienski has served in multiple roles in the Athletics and Facilities departments at MCCC since 2013. He served as an Assistant Coach under Kevin Kerins for five seasons. Stupienski spent two seasons as head JV and Assistant Baseball Coach at Limestone College in Gafney, South Carolina. Stupienski returned to MCCC in 2019 and joined Carella’s coaching staff.
As an assistant coach with Mercer, Stupienski has focused on game day strategy, field preparation and recruiting. He has been a part of MCCC’s trips to the World Series in 2014, 2016 and 2022.
Stupienski is also a certified NJSIAA High School football official. He resides in Hamilton, NJ.