FDU Knights Athletics

Considered by many to be one of the best catchers to ever don and FDU uniform, Joe Rigoli was key to FDU Baseball success in the 1970’s. Rigoli helped the Knights to an 87-50-2 overall record in four seasons. Handling the majority of the work behind the plate over his four-year career, Rigoli finished his career with a .299 career batting average, 27 extra-base hits and 41 RBI.  He cracked the .300 mark in both his junior and senior campaigns hitting .333 and .303, respectively. A team captain both his junior and senior seasons his .333 batting average ranked fourth on the team while he smacked a team-leading 13 doubles as a senior.  As a senior he was also named an Academic All-American. The hallmark of his career was his handling of arguably one of the greatest pitching staffs in FDU history. With Rigoli behind the dish, the pitching staff posted four consecutive team ERA’s under 4.00. In 1975 his pitchers held a remarkable 3.22 team ERA and a 3.12 ERA in 1978. Following his career at FDU, Rigoli went on to play professionally with the Oakland A’s organization. He has been with the St. Louis Cardinals for over 30 years and he is a member of the Professional Baseball Scouts and Mid-Atlantic Pro Scouts Hall of Fame. Rigoli was also selected as a member of the FDU Baseball 1970’s All-Decade Team.