Hall of Fame
Brian Dena hit an incredible .394 for his career and established new Rutgers-Newark records for hits with 195, home runs with 32 and runs batted in with 153 while earning All-New Jersey Athletic Conference laurels.
After hitting a solid .327 with five home runs among his 13 extra-base hits as a rookie in 1996, he earned All-NJAC Honorable Mention status as a sophomore with some eye-popping numbers. He posted a .424 batting average with a school –record 12 home runs as a sophomore.
He earned first team All-NJAC honors as a junior in 1998 while producing some of the best offensive numbers ever at Rutgers-Newark. He hit .442, which was the third highest single-season batting average in Raider history at that time, while hammering 15 home runs for the second best R-N season in that category. His 65 hits and 69 runs batted in were a school records with 11 doubles and four triples mixed into the total for an .878 slugging percentage which still stands as the second highest average in R-N baseball history. The Raiders reeled off nine consecutive wins to finish the season and finish 22-15 under head coach Tom Kaechele. The team received an ECAC Metro Championship bid, but he playoff was erased by heavy rains in early May.
Dena’s name might be at the top of most every career offensive category if not for the NJAC’s decision to play with wooden bats for safety reasons during his senior season of 1999. The 10-team league was one of just two in the NCAA Division III ranks to refrain from using metal bats that season – and power numbers for everyone in the league suffered. Dena still hit .356, but he did not add to his school-record total of 32 home runs. After posting slugging percentages over .800 in back-to-back seasons, he still produced a strong.466 average with 11 doubles and a triple.
He graduated from Rutgers-Newark with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2000.
