Mercer’s men’s basketball and baseball teams enter the new academic year with successful seasons behind them and significant roster changes ahead. Basketball returns two players after its first 20-win season since 2013-14, while baseball must replace every starting position player from a team that finished 35-15-1.
For men’s basketball, returning guard Shi Berry and forward Noah Johansen will captain a team seeking another regional championship.
The team is led by Coach Howard Levy, a Princeton University alum and former player under legendary coach Pete Carril. He says Carril “Had a huge influence on both basketball and life.”
Under Levy’s leadership, since the 2021-22 season, the basketball team has been winning more games every year. In 2021-22, they only won 2 games. But since then, it increased to 12 the following season, 13 the next, and finally in 2025-26, the team not only won 20 games, but also became Section 19 champions, before falling short in the district championship to SUNY Orange, according to the Mercer Athletics page.
When asked if the team expects to repeat as Region 19 champions, Coach Levy said
“It’s always the goal to win Regions,” but adds that in order to do so, they’ll have to remain “process-driven and take things one step at a time.”
With a lot of familiar foes on the schedule, Mercer will go against rival schools Middlesex and Raritan Valley, along with other schools that are sure to bring close competition.
Like basketball, the baseball team also faces significant roster turnover, returning 14 players and adding 27 newcomers.
Ricardo Carabelli, Head Coach for the team said, “Every starting position player graduated, so we had holes to fill.”
The previous roster saw a strong spring season, averaging 9.8 runs per game and hitting 48 combined home runs throughout the season.
New players include recruits from all over New Jersey, as well as Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, and as far away as the Dominican Republic, Canada, Japan and Puerto Rico.
Coach Carabelli will have to change strategies since he can no longer rely on the starters from last season, saying, “We will have to play some small ball.” This includes bunting and hit-and-run plays. He adds that they will need “stronger emphasis on good defense and limited mistakes.”
One returning player, pitcher John Koch says, “Even though we have around 30 new players, the goal is always the same: to make it to the World Series [In Oklahoma].”
Mercer came within one win of making it to the World Series last year.
Koch says, “I plan to build off last season.” He finished the season with 59 strikeouts in 45 innings, which helped him earn 2nd-team all-region and 1st-team all-conference.
Koch, whose slider is his signature pitch, said, “Recently I’ve been working on my splitter the most…to try and get more swing and misses with it.” He added, “When I’m throwing strikes, I’m dominant. I’m working on being more consistent to be more in the zone”
The Baseball team will play 12 games this fall, which is double the total from last fall, and they will play a variety of different levels of teams, ranging from Division III to Division I in the NJCAA.
