Jon Theckston plays the final season of his stellar collegiate career this spring, approaching numerous milestones with the Rutgers-Camden baseball program. One of the top players in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, Theckston has started 113 of his 117 career games with the Scarlet Raptors, while leading Rutgers-Camden to the only two NJAC regular-season titles in program history (2014, 2015) and helping the team earn its first-ever NCAA tournament berth in 2014.
A career .303 hitter, Theckston enters the 2017 season with 132 hits and 71 RBIs, ranking 13th on the program’s all-time list in both categories. He is third on the program’s career list for total chances (795), putouts (674) and sacrifice flies (9, only two shy of the record). He also ranks sixth on the all-time list for fielding percentage with a .9836 mark, barely behind Harvey Spector’s .9839.
A stellar student as well, he was a member of Rutgers-Camden’s inaugural Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the Fall 2015 semester. He also was named to the AD Honor Roll for the Fall 2016 semester.
A long-time member of Rutgers-Camden’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, he is serving as the SAAC Co-Chair this scholastic year after serving as the Vice Co-Chair during the 2015-16 scholastic year.
Baseball 2016: Was the starting catcher in all of the Scarlet Raptors’ 37 games…Hit .285 with a .384 slugging percentage and a .333 on-base percentage…Had 24 runs scored and finished fourth on the team with 26 RBIs…Collected seven doubles, one triple and two home runs…Had eight walks, four HBP, two sacrifice flies and four sacrifices…Successful on seven of eight stolen base attempts…Led the team with 247 putouts, the ninth-highest single-season total in program history…Added 34 assists and only three errors for a .989 fielding percentage, the top mark among all regulars on the team…Collected his 100th career hit against Wheaton (Mass.) College on March 16, going 2-for-4 with one RBI…Hit .366 (15-for-41) against southpaws, .353 (30-for-85) with runners on base, .357 (20-for-56) with runners in scoring position and .833 (10-for-12) with a runner at third base and less than two outs…Finished third on the team with 10 two-out RBIs…Tied for third on the team with 14 multiple-hit games, including a pair of three-hit games…Tied for third on the team with seven multiple-RBI games, including a 2-for-5 game with one run, a home run and four RBIs against York College of Pennsylvania (March 9)…Had a game-tying single with one out in the top of the ninth inning and eventually scored the winning run as Rutgers-Camden beat Neumann University, 5-4 (April 5)…In that Neumann game, he went 3-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, two runs and three RBIs…Had a 12-game hitting streak to open the season (March 2-26), going 19-for-52 (.365) with 16 runs and 10 RBIs…Had a six-game hitting streak from April 10-16 (7-for-23, .304) and a four-game streak from April 23-26 (9-for-19, .474)…In a doubleheader against New Jersey City University on April 23, went a combined 4-for-9 with one run and two RBIs…Went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, a stolen base and one run against Moravian College (April 26)…Defensively, compiled five games with double-digit putouts, including a high of 13 putouts, while adding two assists, against Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the nightcap of a March 18 doubleheader…Had 12 games with double-digits in total chances…Notched four assists against both Rowan University (April 8) and Kean University (April 30, Game Two).
Baseball 2015: Played in 41 of the Raptors’ 44 games, starting 38…Second on the team with a .338 batting average…Third on the squad with 26 RBIs, seven doubles and a .414 slugging percentage…Fourth on the squad with a .378 on-base percentage…Successful on all six stolen base attempts…Defensively, finished second on the team with 228 putouts and added 35 assists and three double plays…Tied for the NJAC lead in runners caught stealing (20), while having 10 fewer attempted steals against him (29) than his co-leader…Earned NJAC First Team and NJCBA Div. II/III First Team…
D3baseball.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team…Caught the seventh no-hitter in program history, when Jeff Singer threw a 7-0 gem at Montclair State University (April 23)…Helped Singer’s cause in that game going 2-for-4 with a double and one run scored…Hit a huge grand slam – his first collegiate home run – to key a six-run sixth inning and spark the Raptors over The College of New Jersey (April 17)…Compiled the longest hitting streak on the team, a 14-game string (22-for-52, .423) April 2-19…Second on the club with 18 multiple-hit games, with six coming during his hitting streak…Third on the team with six multiple-RBI games…His 2015 totals rank among Rutgers-Camden single-season program records for putouts (12th, with 228), games (tied for 12th, 41), at bats (tied for 14th, 157) and hits (15th, 53)…Finished among the NJAC leaders in numerous categories, besides tying for the lead in runners caught stealing: also ranked ninth in chances (267), tied for ninth in pickoffs (2), 11th in putouts, tied for 11th in sacrifice flies (3), 11th in at bats, 12th in hits, tied for 12th in two-out RBIs (13), 13th in both batting average with two outs (.357) and batting average with runners on base (.392), 14th in batting average against lefties (.387), tied for 18th in total plate appearances (174), tied for 19th in total bases (65), tied for 23rd in RBIs, tied for 24th in home runs (1), 25th in batting average, tied for 31st in doubles, 31st in batting average against righties (.325) and in fielding percentage (.985), 32nd in slugging percentage and in batting average with RBI opportunities (.346), tied for 37th in assists, tied for 38th in stolen bases, 45th in percentage for advancing runners (.529) and 47th in on-base percentage…Opened the season going 2-for-4 and adding seven putouts and one assist as the Raptors beat #23-ranked Amherst College (March 15)…Went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a stolen base, one HBP and two RBIs at William Paterson University (March 29, Game One), while adding nine putouts and one assist…Collected his season high of 12 putouts against both Rutgers-Newark (April 4, Game One, while batting 1-for-2 with one run and one RBI) and Stockton University (April 10, while also going 1-for-3 with one run and one RBI)…Had hit first of five three-hit games at Rowan University (April 6), going 3-for-4 in the third game of his 14-game hitting streak…Went 2-for-6 with one run and three RBIs in the nightcap of a doubleheader at New Jersey City University (April 18), just one day after his grand slam against The College of New Jersey…In the last game of his hitting streak, went 3-for-4 and added a stolen base, five putouts and one assist against Stevens Institute of Technology (April 19)…Went 3-for-6 with a double, one run, one stolen base and one RBI against Kean University (April 25, Game Two) as the Raptors clinched the regular-season NJAC title in a 12-inning marathon…Theckston caught all 21 innings in that doubleheader sweep, while going 5-for-11…Went 2-for-4 with a run and three RBIs against Montclair State University in the NJAC playoffs (May 1), then added a three-RBI game the next day in a playoff win over TCNJ…Went 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI against Kean University in the NJAC championship game (May 3)…Went a combined 5-for-8 with two runs and one RBI in a pair of late-season games against York (PA) College May 7 and 9.
Baseball 2014: Appeared in 39 games, starting 38…Hit .283 with five doubles, one triple, 26 runs and 19 RBIs…Posted a .339 slugging percentage and a .358 on-base percentage…Led the team with four sacrifice flies, tied for the fourth-highest single-season total in program history…Notched 199 putouts, the second-highest total on the team…Added 39 assists and compiled a .975 fielding percentage…Named New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week March 17 after opening his collegiate career with a three-game hitting streak (6-for-11, .545, with three runs and four RBIs) from March 11-16 (Game One)…In his first college game went 3-for-3 with two doubles, one walk and two RBIs against Neumann University (March 11),while adding eight putouts and one assist in nine chances…Had his first five-game hitting streak of the season (7-for-15, 467, with four runs and five RBIs) from March 17-21…Added another five-game hitting streak (9-for-18, .500, with five runs and three RBIs) April 19-26…Collected nine multi-hit game, including a pair of games with three hits apiece: the Neumann game on March 11 and a 3-for-5 contest with a double, triple, two runs and two RBIs against Rutgers-Newark (April 24)…Had two RBIs on four occasions, coming against Neumann (March 11), Alfred State (March 19), Rutgers-Newark (April 24) and Castleton State (May 15)…Tied a program single-game record with two sacrifice flies in the program’s first NCAA tournament victory, an 18-11 win over Castleton State (May 15)…Notched his season high of 10 putouts against both Widener (March 12) and Trinity (March 22)…Had three assists on three occasions, coming against Kean (March 31), Farmingdale State (May 14) and Kean again (May 17).
High School: Captured four baseball letters at Gloucester Catholic High School for Coaches Dennis Barth and Mike Rucci…Helped the Rams capture four state championships…Also played on the Brooklawn American Legion national championship team.
Personal: Born July 12, 1994...Nicknamed “Pop time”…Has been a two-time all-star with the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League the past two summers as a member of the South Jersey Giants…SAAC Vice Co-Chair…Finance major at Rutgers-Camden…John is the son of John and Lori Theckston of Gloucester City.
