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.
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.
Mike Sutlovich has been blessed to be given the opportunity to work with Baseball and softball players since 1996.He has had over 500 students go on to play college baseball and softball. Was a pioneer in opening a Baseball and softball academy in 1999 and has produced All Americans, All State and All county students.
He has worked as a scout for the Seattle Mariners and Anaheim Angels, had the honor of scouting Mike Trout, Rick Porcello and Todd Frazier.
He has had 8 students drafted. His most recent students, Frank Schwindel and Mike Ford were both in the big leagues this year (2021). He has the ability to teach students from ages 6 to 60 and always makes sure that they are having fun.
Coach Pinkman has been assistant coach / pitching coach with Seton Hall since 2018 after serving in the same capacity for Fordham University. In the 2018 season, the pitching staff led the conference in BIG EAST-only games with a 2.04 ERA and 166 strikeouts. While at Fordham, pitchers broke the team record for strikeouts with 414 in 2017. Prior to Fordham Pinkman served as pitching coach at both Marymount & Washington University.
Pinkman served as vice president and lead instructor at the Pinkman Baseball Academy from 2002-11. Between his time there and coaching collegiately, he has mentored and instructed 100’s of players that have played at the college, minor league, and MLB levels.
A former standout at Virginia Tech, Pinkman was a Freshman All-American in 1998 and named the Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year. He set freshman records for wins (seven), innings pitched (89), strikeouts (81), pickoffs (10) and complete games (seven). As a sophomore, he set an NCAA Division I record with 19 pickoffs and a sophomore record with nine complete games.
Coach Pinkman joined In The Zone Academy fall of 2020 as Program Director of 360 Pitching
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.
Tyler Pagaduan played college baseball at Geneva College in Western Pennsylvania, where he was a starter all 4 years as an Outfielder, and lefty specialist. Tyler finished his Senior year with a .339 batting average (top 15 in PAC) .467 on base percentage (top 5 in PAC), and led Geneva to its first winning season in 10 years. Before Geneva he attended Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, NJ where he was 4 time Varsity starter, and helped lead the team to the State and Camden County Tournament Championships.
At Geneva, Tyler was a Double Major in Sports Management/Business and Biology. He was recently named as a scout for the Geneva baseball program to assist in recruiting student-athletes from New Jersey interested in continuing their academic and athletic careers at Geneva.
Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela Jose started playing baseball at 4 years old. In 2005, at the age of 15, he represented Venezuela in the Pan American Tournament in Colombia where his team took 3rd place. He played college baseball at Oakland City University in Oakland City, IN.
Jose signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a pitcher and played in their MiLB system from 2008-2010. He continued his baseball career as a pitcher for the Broward Waverunners in the Florida Winter Baseball League (Independent League) in Pompano Beach, Florida
Living in Flanders, NJ, Jose has enjoyed being a coach and private instructor at In The Zone since early 2019. His knowledge of the game is second to none, having been coached by and played alongside top MLB coaches and players for many years.
Coach Mehmedi is a graduate of Sparta High School where he was a wrestler and football player for 3 years and played baseball for all 4. He then attended Sussex County College from 2005-06 playing baseball for Todd Poltersdorf as a catcher and relief pitcher. Mehmedi transferred to NJCU for 2007-2008 where he finished his degree and completed his collegiate baseball career.
From 2010-2012, Mehmedi was hired as the Assistant Coach at SCCC under Head Coach Todd Poltersdorf, focusing on pitchers and catchers, while also providing strength and conditioning programs for all players.
In 2013, he took over the baseball program as Head Coach in the middle of the Fall season and will now be entering his 8th year with SCCC.
Current Gill St. Bernards Varsity Softball Coach and form Mendham Township Middle School Softball and basketball coach where he has been to the county final in softball the last 4 years, winning 2 championships. Also recently worked as on field trainer and assistant coach for NJ Venom(Since 2013), developing players ages 12U to 18U. Prior to that was head coach and founder of Mendham Mavericks 14U team compiling a record 133-28 in 4 seasons while also winning several regional tournaments.
Coach Surella’s gets the most out of players by building on their strengths through positive communication and improving the challenging parts of their game through repetitive and sometime innovative drills. He is passionate about the game and believes effort and energy are essential to overcoming obstacles.
A resident of Long Valley where he lives with his son, daughter and labradoodle ‘Maverick’. Coach Surella volunteers his time as treasurer of both Mendham High School softball and basketball booster clubs along with being President of Mendham Patriot Basketball.
Amy graduated in 2009 from Geneva College with an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education and has been teaching fourth grade in the Roxbury School District for the past eight years, just recently receiving a Masters in Special Education from William Paterson University.
While at Geneva College, Amy was the starting catcher for the women’s softball team for four years, as well as being a captain her junior and senior years. She has been a catcher since age 12 but also played Center-field throughout my career. Although catching is her first love, hitting is a close second. Amy holds nine offensive records at Geneva College – Single Season Hits, Single Season Batting Average, Single Season Home-runs, Single Season RBIs, Career Hits, Career Batting Average, Career Home-runs, and Career RBIs. Below are some of the awards Amy received throughout my career:
- NCCAA Scholar Athlete 2007-2009
- NCCAA All American Catcher First Team Spring 2007, 2008, and 2009
- NCCAA All Region Player of the Year Spring 2008 and 2009
- NCAA East Regional First Team Spring 2008 and 2009
- NCAA PAC Coaches Honors First Team Spring 2008 and 2009
- NCCAA AMC All Conference Spring 2008 and 2009
- NCAA Pre-Season All-American Winter 2009
- Eastern College Athletic Conference All-Star Team Spring 2008
Amy have a total of 9 years of coaching experience at the high school varsity level. She coached at Madison High School for 6 years, helping lead the program to the state finals 2 years in a row. After Madison, Amy coached at Wayne Hills High School and recently was brought on as Varsity Softball Coach at Jefferson H.S.
Meagan Madsen is entering her 3rd season as the Assistant Softball Coach and Pitching Coach for the Centenary Cyclones. Madsen played all four years at Centenary setting records throughout her career and leading the team to back-to-back CSAC Championships in 2011 & 2012.
She became the first Centenary pitcher to make over 100-career appearances, while also becoming the All-Time leader in complete game shutouts (16) and innings pitched (439.1) and saves (5). In 2012 as a sophomore, Madsen led was named CSAC Pitcher of the Year following a season of 123 innings pitched recording an ERA of 3.06 with 59 strikeouts and five shutouts.
In 2011, Madsen was named to the Second Team All-CSAC Pitcher, Team MVP and ECAC South Pitcher of the Week.
Throughout her career, Madsen has been named to the CSAC All-Academic Team three times, recipient of the Cardy Gemma Award, First Team All-CSAC, CSAC Honorable Mention and multiple CSAC Pitcher of the weeks.
Madsen graduated in May 2014 with a Bachelors in Social Work and currently working towards her Masters in School Counseling.
Kelly Buck was a multi-award winning 4-year Varsity player for Roxbury High School who continued her softball career with William Paterson College. After completing her degree, Kelly went on to coaching softball at the High School level starting at her Alma Mater and then moving on to Mt. Olive High School where she was the Head JV Softball Coach for 4 years and then assistant Varsity Coach for 3 years. Additionally, Kelly has been a Physical Education teacher at Mt Olive Middle School since 2012.
Kelly has been training and instructing softball athletes of all ages for many years and comes to In The Zone with a wealth of knowledge. She has expertise in a variety of areas including hitting, catching, defense and fastpitch.
Bio Coming Soon!
Bio Coming Soon!
