Stevens Institute of Technology head baseball coach
Kristaps Aldins announced the addition of Charles Thielmann to the Ducks coaching staff on November 28, 2017.
In his first year at Castle Point, Thielmann helped lead Stevens to its first Empire 8 regular season championship in program history. The Ducks completed the season with a 26-17 overall record, a 15-3 conference record and finished ranked 5th in the NCAA New York Regional Rankings. The coaching staff was recognized as the Empire 8 Baseball Coaching Staff of the Year.
Academically and off the field the Stevens baseball team has also been thriving. The squad has also been recognized for multiple years running with the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award and currently maintains a team GPA that is above 3.7.
In the fall of 2020, Thielmann was named the Field Manager for the Northwoods League summer league powerhouse Fon du Lac Dock Spiders. The Dock Spiders have captured the Wisconsin-Illinois Northwoods League Pod Championship two of the past three seasons, including winning the title in grand fashion in 2020 with a 14-3 victory over the La Crosse Loggers in the title game. Thielmann returns to the Dock Spiders in the role of field manager after spending the inaugural 2017 season with the team under long-time head coach Zac Charbonneau as the pitching coach.
Volunteering in the Hoboken community and beyond has been a big part of the Stevens Baseball experience during Thielmann's tenure. Baseball has participated in numerous initiatives including Stevens' Duckling Program, Mile City Mentor, Hoboken Baseball Special Olympics, The Hoboken Boys & Girls Club, and Hoboken Night Out.
On the diamond in 2018, Thielmann tutored a talented pitching staff led by Danny Poidomani '19, Quinn DiPasquale '18, and Charlie Ruegger '19. Poidomani became Stevens' first-ever placement in the prestigious Cape Cod League with the Harwich Mariners and proceeded to have a banner summer. The lefty finished his campaign with the fourth lowest batting-average-against in the entire league and posted a 2-1 record with a 3.91 E.R.A. over 23.0 innings. The Cape is widely considered the top collegiate baseball summer experience in the nation across all levels of baseball. Not long after the completion of the 2018 season, DiPasquale signed with the Gary Southshore Rail Cats of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. Later in the summer DiPasquale moved over to the Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League and completed his first summer as a professional baseball player with a 2-1 record, 4.78 E.R.A over 26.1 innings of work. Meanwhile, Ruegger heard his name called in the First Year Player Draft by the New York Yankees. Ruegger was selected in the 33rd round (997th overall) and was assigned to the Tampa Yankees of the Gulf Coast League (A). Ruegger posted a 0-1 record with a 2.79 E.R.A. and collected 2 saves a 7 strikeouts over 9.2 innings of work in his first season as a pro.
Thielmann has also played a key role in the integration of Rapsodo into the Stevens Baseball experience, helping usher in a modern, data-driven approach to the Ducks day-to-day training regimen. Thanks, in large part, to Thielmann's efforts, Stevens Baseball has been able to stay ahead of the curve, presenting our student-athletes with a truly transformative baseball training experience that helps them reach their maximum potential on the mound.
Before his season in the Northwoods League, Thielmann spent one season as the pitching coach for the Springfield Sliders of the Prospect Collegiate League. Under Thielmann's direction, the Sliders posted the second-best record in league history (39-20) and Thielmann served as the pitching coach for the league's All-Star Game.
As a student-athlete himself, Thielmann posted a 24-9 record with a 2.69 ERA, 19 complete games and six saves over four seasons at Kean University. As a sophomore, he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, while also collecting ABCA/Rawlings Mid-Atlantic Region and New Jersey Athletic Conference Second Team accolades. Thielmann earned his bachelor's degree from Kean in communications in 2016.
