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Ray Napientek is in his second season at Northern Illinois after joining Ed Mathey's staff as an assistant coach prior to the 2006 campaign. The former all-conference pitcher at North Central made an immediate impact with the Huskies after reuniting with his former coach. In addition to serving as team scouting director, Napientek works primarily with pitchers and catchers and helped guide the Huskie hurlers to record-setting performances last season. NIU pitchers set a school record with 398 strikeouts as a staff in 2007 while posting a Modern Era record with a 4.65 team ERA, the lowest mark in three decades, as the team notched a school-record 34 Division I victories and 16 MAC wins. Northern Illinois' team ERA ranked fifth in the MAC at 3.87 while limiting conference opponents to a .257 batting average. The Huskies allowed two or fewer runs on seven occasions during the 2007 season. With the tutelage of Napientek, Matt German became the school's first Division I All-American (second team ABCA and Ping Baseball) player and first national award finalist, when he was one of five pitchers up for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. The closer became the school's career saves leader and finished his career second on the all-time MAC list.
Following the 2007 season, two of Napientek protégés inked professional contracts as German signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and Mark Badgley with the Florida Marlins. In addition, Trevor Feeney was a 39th round draft choice by the Kansas City Royals. The Huskies claimed three MAC Pitcher of the Week honors, (German two and Badgley one), while Feeney was recognized nationally on the College Baseball Foundation Honor Roll after a 12-strikeout performance at eventual league champion Kent State. Napientek was a four-year starting pitcher for Mathey at North Central and finished his career with 19 victories, the third-highest win total in school history. He also finished in a first-place tie on the school's all-time list with 13 complete games and three shutouts. The righthander helped lead the Cardinals to CCIW titles in both 1996 and 1998. During the 1996 season, Napientek earned second team all-conference accolades and two seasons later he posted a 7-1 record that included victories over Elmhurst in the CCIW Tournament and Carthage in the NCAA Central Regional. Napientek and the '98 team went 28-15-1, was runner-up at the NCAA Central Regional and finished 15th in the Collegiate Baseball national rankings. After graduating from NCC in 1999, Napientek served as the head coach of the Naperville Cardinals, a summer wooden bat collegiate team. In his first year as coach, Napientek guided the squad to a 21-9 record and league championship. The Chicago native was an assistant coach at North Park University during the 2005 season before moving to an assistant coach position at St. Patrick High School. There, he conducted opponent scouting while helping lead the Chicago school to a runner-up finish at the 2006 IHSA Class AA Championships in Geneva. Napientek spent six years working for the Chicago Police Department and is currently pursuing his master's degree in Sport Management at NIU. THE NAPIENTEK FILE
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