By Chris Judd and Madeline Sattler, News Correspondents

Former assistant baseball coach gets top job at William and Mary

Former assistant baseball coach Jamie Pinzino was named head coach of the William and Mary baseball team, the Williamsburg, Va. university announced last month.

“Jamie handled the pitchers and was very astute, and a meticulous organizer,” head coach Neil McPhee said. “He really knows how to get the information from statistics that shows the true value of players.”

While Pinzino was coaching the Huskies, they led the Colonial Athletic Association with a 4.26 ERA and were second in batting average against with .270. Three starters were also drafted by Major League Baseball teams while Pinzino was coaching.

“He is the seventh coach that has worked here that is now a head coach somewhere else,” McPhee said. “We have a good history of hiring people who can move on, and I am absolutely thrilled for Jamie.”

Tough schedule ahead for women’s volleyball

While gearing up for the new season, Northeastern’s women’s volleyball team knows they have a very challenging schedule ahead following their 21-6 2011-12 campaign. The Huskies will play four NCAA tournament teams and will be in four tournaments before the regular season starts.

“We’ve always tried to play the type of schedule we have for this year,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “Last year we were very young and scheduled appropriately. This year, we are trying to schedule more difficultly for two reasons. First, we want to measure how we compare against the top teams in the conference and secondly, we want to see how we compare with teams that are perennially on the bubble of making the NCAA tournament.”

Women’s hockey forward to try out for Canadian national team

Brittany Esposito, a junior forward for the women’s hockey team, was invited to try out for the Canadian National Women’s Under-22/Development Team, Northeastern announced. She will be trying out with 40 other players to make the team. The selection camp begins today and runs through Aug. 13. The team will play the US Under-22 team in a three game series. As a Husky, Esposito has had 23 goals and 35 assists in three years.

US national team taps NU asst. coach

Northeastern women’s hockey assistant coach Hilary Witt has been named to the US national women’s hockey team as a coordinator of player development and scout, Northeastern announced last month.

Witt played for the Huskies from 1996-2000 and is in the books as Northeastern’s all-time leading scorer and point-getter. She won two Beanpot titles as a player and was nominated for the Patty Kazmaier award, given to the top female in division I hockey, three seasons in a row. She was inducted into the Northeastern Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Women’s Beanpot Hall of Fame in 2010.

Following her graduation from Northeastern, Witt spent a season on the US women’s national team before taking a coaching job at Yale University. She is in the record books as the coach with the most wins at Yale winningest coach with a 96-126-24 record between 2001 and 2010.

Witt spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach to the Northeastern Women’s Hockey program. Over her two years at Northeastern, the Huskies won 38 games including a Hockey East regular season title and Beanpot championship this past season.

Witt began her full-time USA hockey duty yesterday.