John Wink has played a major role in shaping the most successful decade in Rutgers-Camden baseball history.

        Wink served as the Scarlet Raptors’ pitching coach from 1999-2007 under Head Coach Keith Williams, before being elevated to the 14th head coach in program history. During his two seasons at the helm, Wink has worked tirelessly to return the Raptors to the glory days they experienced from 2001-06, a six-year span which saw Rutgers-Camden post the five winningest seasons in program history.

        After posting a 9-27 record during a major rebuilding season in 2008, Wink’s team improved to 10-25 last season. Rutgers-Camden also posted three more victories in New Jersey Athletic Conference play, finishing at 5-13 in the conference. It was the Raptors’ best NJAC record since going 9-9 in 2006. 

        Never one to shy away from a difficult schedule, Wink’s second Raptor team played 17 of its 35 games against teams appearing in one or both of the two major Division III rankings – the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball poll and the NCBWA/d3baseball.com poll. The Scarlet Raptors went 2-15 in those games, leaving them 8-10 against non-ranked teams. They were 1-5 against teams appearing in the final ABCA poll, with the lone victory coming in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game against powerhouse The College of New Jersey on March 30. The Raptors posted an 8-5 victory over the Lions, who went on to win the conference title and rank 24th in the final ABCA national poll.

        Wink’s young team included freshman Andrew Hoffman, who earned the first Rookie Pitcher of the Week honor for both the NJAC (Feb. 24) and the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (March 2). Hoffman finished in a tie for ninth place among all NJAC pitchers with a 3.12 ERA last season.

        Wink’s second season as the head coach produced several memorable comebacks, performances and milestones, including the 100th career hit for senior Dean Straga in the last game of the season April 25.

        The baseball team placed four players on the NJAC Academic squads, with Jamie Williams earning Second Team recognition, while Greg Hunt, Scott Fruits and John Diamond were named NJAC Academic Honorable Mention.

        During Wink’s first season as the Rutgers-Camden head coach in 2008, the Raptors had one of those seasons when youth, bad breaks, injuries, a rugged schedule and the combination of inconsistent pitching and hitting led to a 9-27 record. Rutgers-Camden lost 12 of those games by three runs or less, including five by two runs and another two by one run. The Scarlet Raptors also played 14 games against teams appearing in at least one of the twonational polls, going 1-13 against that tough competition.

        Despite their record, Wink’s team had several highlights during his first year as a head coach, including defensively, where the Raptors finished second nationally in double plays per game (1.19) and tied for 16th in total twin killings (43).

        Wink also was in the dugout for the longest game in program history, a 17-inning, 8-6 loss to Rutgers-Newark April 5 in the nightcap of a marathon doubleheader. The Raptors played 26 innings that day in a NJAC twinbill that lasted over eight hours.

        Rutgers-Camden capped its season April 25 by posting a 5-4 victory at Rowan University, spoiling a Senior Day celebration for the Profs, who were ranked No. 25 nationally at the time. Rowan finished the season ranked No. 18 nationally.

        Wink was promoted to the Raptors’ head coaching job during the summer of 2007 after spending nine seasons as the Scarlet Raptors’ pitching coach under Williams. After Williams resigned to take the head coaching job at Division II St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, North Carolina, Wink was named the head coach in July.

        Wink and Williams molded a successful program during their nine years together at Rutgers-Camden. Since rebuilding the program in their first two years, they led the Scarlet Raptors to a 155-114-1 mark from 2001-2007. After posting a combined 7-49 mark in 1999 and 2000, the Raptors set a short-lived school record for victories in a 21-15 campaign during the 2001 season. That season started a seven-year stretch in which the Raptors produced the five highest victory totals in Rutgers-Camden baseball history.

        The Raptors’ success was built around Wink’s pitching staff, which consistently ranked among the best in the NJAC. The 2005 team, which posted a 28-11 record for the second-most wins in program history, finished third in the NJAC in ERA (3.80) and fifth in opponent batting average (.275). Individually, Wink’s closer Matt Novella led the NJAC with a program-record nine saves (a figure which tied for third among all NCAA Division III pitchers).

        The team finished fourth in the NJAC in ERA in both 2004 (4.00) and 2003 (4.19), while the 2002 staff led the conference and finished 13th nationally with a 3.37 ERA. That staff helped the Scarlet Raptors post a program-record 32-10 season.

        Staff ace Matt Ulmer finished 67th nationally among all Division III pitchers in 2004, sporting a sparkling 2.35 ERA.

        The 2003 team saw closer Dan McKenna get selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 27th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He became the first Rutgers-Camden pitcher, and only the program’s second player overall, to be selected in the MLB draft.

        Wink helped turn the program around in 2001 when his staff posted a 21-15 record and struck out 271 batters in 293-1/3 innings. It was the Raptors’ first winning season since 1988.

        In his nine years with as the Raptors’ pitching coach, Wink’s staff tossed three no-hitters, including one by Bob Diepold in 1999, a perfect game by Mike Murphy in 2001 and a no-hitter by Zack Pendleton in 2002.

        Wink received recognition for his work during the fall of 2003 when he was honored as a recipient of the second annual AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award. Over 350,000 assistant coaches were nominated from around the country. Only 500 high school and college coaches, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, received the award.

        A 1990 graduate of Holy Cross High School, Wink pitched for the Lancers under head coach Greg Luzinski, the former Philadelphia Phillies star. As a senior he went 8-1 for the Lancers’ 1988 South Jersey Parochial A championship team.

        Wink continued his pitching career at Virginia Wesleyan College. A four-year varsity hurler for the Marlins, he graduated from Virginia Wesleyan in 1994 with a B.A. in Business Management.