Lee Saverio is in his third year as a volunteer assistant coach for the Wildcats in 2018. He is involved with many aspects of the Villanova program, and his responsibilities have included working with the Wildcats catchers, outfielders and hitters over the past two seasons. Saverio is a familiar name in Philadelphia baseball circles with head coaching experience in the collegiate ranks.
In his most recent coaching stop prior to coming to the Wildcats, Saverio was the hitting coach at Lehigh for three years from 2013-15. He mentored a Mountain Hawks offense which led the Patriot League by a large margin with 39 home runs during the 2015 season, when the team went on to win its second-ever Patriot League title on the way to reaching the NCAA Tournament. Lehigh led the Patriot League in batting average in 2014 and advanced to the Patriot League Championship for the first time in eight years.
Saverio’s hitters at Lehigh were recognized for their success with a number of selections to All-Patriot League teams. Outfielder Justin Pacchioli garnered all-conference accolades each year from 2013-15, including consecutive first team honors in 2014 and 2015. He twice led the Patriot League in batting during that span and finished the 2015 regular season ranked seventh in the nation with a .503 on-base percentage. Second baseman Mike Garzillo also garnered first team All-Patriot League laurels in consecutive seasons during Saverio’s time as hitting coach.
Saverio was previously the head coach at La Salle (2004-07) and an interim head coach at Saint Joseph’s (2008) in addition to spending 13 years as head coach at Cheltenham High School. He has also worked in professional baseball as a scout for the New York Mets, and is the owner and camp director at Total Instructional Baseball Camp.
In his head coaching stint at La Salle, Saverio won 75 games and led the Explorers to a number of team and individual accomplishments. La Salle was named the Philadelphia Big 5 Team of the Year in 2006 and Saverio earned Coach of the Year honors after the Explorers tallied a 20-win season which included 12 conference wins in the Atlantic 10.
From an individual standpoint, Rich Prall and Gerard Breslin were All-Atlantic 10 selections in 2006 and 2007, respectively. In 2007, John Malloy was an A-10 All-Rookie selection and garnered Freshman All-America honors. Breslin, Prall and Craig Muschko were all selected in the Major League Baseball First- Year Player Draft following the 2007 season. Saverio spent a total of six seasons at La Salle, and was also the hitting coach from 2002-03 before taking over the head coaching position.
Saverio was the interim head coach at Saint Joseph’s in 2008 and helped the Hawks win 18 games while leading the team. Prior to beginning his collegiate coaching career, Saverio won over 130 games as head coach at Cheltenham High School. He led his team to the Suburban One Championship in 1997, while his 1998 squad earned the top seed in the district and the number three ranking in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Saverio has coaching experience at the Pennsylvania Keystone State Games, the Carpenter Cup and the Mid-Atlantic Baseball Classic. He also coached the Quakertown Blazers in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League for two summers and led the Blazers to playoff appearances each year. Three of his Blazers players also went on to sign professional contracts. During his time as a scout with the New York Mets organization, Saverio helped run the pre-draft prospect camps at Citi Field and worked with the Mets top draft choices.
Saverio played collegiate baseball at Bloomsburg and graduated from the university with a degree in Education.
