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I just came across this on the college baseball blog. Looks like Coach Merc's son has done very well for himeself.

Joe Mercurio joins HPU baseball staff

The High Point University baseball team has added Joe Mercurio as a volunteer assistant coach, head coach Craig Cozart announced Monday. Mercurio was an All-Conference catcher at the University of Maine and spent last summer coaching the Glens Fall Golden Eagles in the New York Collegiate Baseball League.

“We are very excited to have Joe join our staff,” Cozart said. “We have known him for many years as we recruited him out of high school and we are happy he is beginning his college coaching career with us at High Point University. He comes from a tremendous family with a long history of being involved in baseball at various levels and he will be a great addition to our staff.”

Mercurio will serve as the first base coach this season while working with the outfielders. He will also work with associate head coach Bryan Peters and assistant coach Rich Wallace as a hitting coach. Mercurio will be in charge of the team’s travel and daily maintenance of the program while helping to further the Panther Baseball Camps.

“I am really excited to have the opportunity to coach at High Point University,” Mercurio said. “Coach Cozart has a great staff here and I will be able to learn a lot from them.”

Mercurio was a three-year member of the Maine baseball team after playing his freshman year at Illinois. In his senior season he hit .363 with 12 home runs as the team’s everyday catcher. He was a two-time America East Player of the Week and earned All-Conference and All-Tournament honors. Mercurio was also named to the ABCA All-Northeast first team, ECAC first team and All-New England first team.

He was an assistant coach for the Glens Falls Golden Eagles of the NYCBL last summer and previously was an assistant coach for the World Yacht Clippers during the summers from 2007-2010. Mercurio has experience working camps as well, having coached at the Collegiate League Baseball Camps, the University of Maine Youth Camps and the Dynamite Diamonds Baseball Camp in Brewster, N.Y.

Mercurio earned his bachelor’s degree in Communications from Maine in May 2010. Mercurio’s younger brother Mike is a sophomore on HPU’s baseball team.

Official HP Press Release
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This is great news. I first saw Joe when he was 13 and even then you knew he was a special young man. He was ahead of the other players, simply because he was the son of a great baseball coach. On the field, he was a fierce competitor who always played hard, played by the rules and always, always gave 100 percent. Off the field, he graduated from Maine, a great academic institution, in four years even after transferring from Illinois. He put up some very impressive numbers this year.

If you know Coach Merc, you would expect no less from his sons. It works for Coach well, since Joe and Mike are now in the same place for his visits. I think the closest he came to this was last spring when Joe was over in Chapel Hill homering against the Tar Heels while Mike was playing for HP about an hour west on Route 40.

Very happy for a fantastic family. Congratulations!
I was there to see him hit that bomb in Chapel Hill. But what really impressed me was the way he played the game. His pitchers were struggling to throw strikes and he blocked everything all game long. He battled back there and did an outstanding job. You could just tell he was the kind of young man that loved the game by the way he played it. Joe was an outstanding player who will make a great college baseball coach. He already is an outstanding young man.

Coach Merc I know you are so proud of Joe. I wish him all the best at High Point along with your other son there as well. One things for sure Joe did it the right way. A class act in every way.

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