Our Staff of Baseball Trainers & Softball Trainers

Coach Andrew played varsity baseball at St. Joseph Regional HS and was a member of the 2013 Bergen County Championship team.  He went on to play for Franklin and Marshall College as both a closer and starting pitcher. As a freshman he set the Centennial Conference single season saves record and the next year continued to set the career saves record. By the time he graduated Andrew was a 3x All Centennial Conference pitcher with a career ERA of 3.07, 104 Ks in 137.2 innings of work, and was named a member of the All-Decade Team as a relief pitcher.

After graduating F&M in 2018 Coach Andrew has been providing 1 on 1 personal instruction to ballplayers of all ages as well as coaching several teams. He is also certified as a personal trainer by the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Bio Coming Soon!

Thomas Ippolito was a standout left handed pitcher at Randolph High School, instrumental in contributing to the team’s success all 3 season’s with the program. After Randolph High School, Thomas received an academic and athletic scholorship to Pace University, studying Neuroscience. He was a 4-year starter and winner of NE Pitcher of The Week as well as multiple post season awards each year.

Through the years he has amassed a wealth of knowledge on pitching inclusive of arm health & conditioning, velocity training, mechanics and more.

Jamie Bristol played 5 years collegiately as a pitcher. Two (2) years at Taylor University where they were a two-time conference champion, and also advanced to the NIAA National Championship Tournament. Three (3) years at Calvin University where he was voted team captain. Jamie graduated with a BS in Therapeutic Recreation and a minor in Psychology. He worked  for 2 years developing programming for traumatized youth and was Assistant Baseball Coach at Grace Christian University. Per Coach Bristol: “I have a serious passion for coaching and mentoring young men, and aspire to coach at the highest level.”

Bio Coming Soon!

Bio Coming Soon!

Bio Coming Soon!

Taylor brings years of valuable playing and coaching experience to In The Zone Baseball & Softball Academy. As a four-year starting catcher and DH for Dowling College from 2008-2012, he was a key contributor on both offense (led all offensive categories in 2008) and defense. He was named team captain in 2012. Taylor was also the starting catcher at Northern Highlands Regional High School for three years, earning multiple 1st-team all-league selections while serving as captain.

Since his scholastic playing days, he has continued to share his love of baseball with aspiring athletes. Taylor coached youth baseball for three years in addition to instructing at prominent New Jersey baseball academies before joining ITZ in 2015. In addition to his work at ITZ, Coach Taylor is the assistant baseball coach at St. Elizabeth University.

Kenny Costa, a 2-time All Conference selection while at Lenape Valley High School continued his baseball career first at Sussex Community College followed by two very successful years at Mercy College. After playing for Mercy, Kenny moved into the coaching role with them for 2 seasons before returning to NJ to take over the Varsity Baseball coaching job as of the 2020 season at his Alma Mater, Lenape Valley High School.

Kenny has been training baseball athletes of all ages for several years, most recently at an indoor facility close to Mercy College. He has expertise in a variety of areas including hitting, pitching, & defense.