NEWPORT, R.I.-- The Salve Regina University baseball program has welcomed assistant coach Zach Clesas to the staff. Clesas will work primarily with the pitchers to establish a strong Seahawk bullpen.
"Salve Athletics is thrilled to add Zach Clesas as an assistant baseball coach and pitching coach," stated director of athletics Dr. Sean Sullivan." Clesas was a force on the mound for Wheaton College and will bring that same mentality to his coaching—with NEWMAC and LEC DIII coaching experience. He will work alongside our veteran head coach Eric Cirella, adding to a fantastic staff committed to continuing the program's recent NEWMAC and NCAA postseason success."
Clesas, a Wheaton College 2023 graduate, comes to Newport after a season with the Lyons baseball program for 2024-25.
"I played for a really good summer program in Rhode Island called L&M, and I always wanted to play college baseball," recalled Clesas. "I pitched pretty well early in my career, so colleges were on me. When I visited Wheaton, I already knew I wanted to be a college baseball coach. I kind of knew that at the end of my time as an athlete, I'd be coaching— whether it would be at Wheaton or elsewhere— I wanted to coach."
After graduating college Clesas became Interim Head Coach for the Rhode Island College baseball team in the fall of 2023 and stepped into the Anchormen's Pitching Coach role for the 2024 season.
"It was a good experience," said Clesas. "Those guys were great, and it ran smoothly with them, so I was good. I just ran it the way Coach Podbelski [former head coach at Wheaton] runs things."
During his time coaching at Wheaton Clesas helped mentor many of the pitchers he had the opportunity to play with while on the team as an athlete.
"I'm proud of creating good relationships with the guys," said Clesas. "I played with a bunch of the guys at Wheaton and so it was cool to be their coach. They were young when I played with them, so it was great to see them develop—they always had me to lean on if they needed something."
As he begins to make an impact at Salve Clesas hopes to further a culture of excellence that is already in place under the direction of head baseball coach Eric Cirella '05.
"I want to continue the trend of being one of the best coaching staffs in the country and I'm excited to get a new perspective on coaching," stated Clesas. "I'm going to help the guys with whatever they need and go from there, but I'm looking to create good relationships with them and see what happens."
Clesas brings with him the experience of not only coaching in the NEWMAC but playing in the conference as well.
"Even as a player, I know it's a really good conference," said Clesas. "I've won three NEWMAC championships as a player, so I have experience winning and I know Salve does as well. Every game is a battle, and every team has good players, so it'll be exciting. I'm ready to coach here and win some more titles."
Clesas, and the Salve coaching staff, will look to build upon the Seahawks postseason success from the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
"The first goal is win the conference, and then win the NCAA Regional, and go from there and see what happens," stated Clesas. "Salve is a place that can win a national championship any given year, so hopefully we can do that."
