Tag: Zoned Sports Academy

by Mike Pavlichko

Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater sends dozens off to college baseball and softball; trained three baseball champs in 2024, and New Jersey’s current No. 1 baseball team

SPONSORED CONTENT – Every year, when the weather turns cold, the real work begins at Zoned Sports Academy.

What’s the old saying? That football games aren’t won on Sundays – they’re won during the week?

If practice makes perfect, there will be some pretty good high school baseball and softball teams coming out of the doors of Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater, once the weather gets nice.

But in the winter? It’s time to hunker down in their 28,000 square foot facility, and get back to basics. While many kids want to pitch and throw through a brick wall, founder and owner Duke Baxter has other ideas: teach the fundamentals, the basics, the mechanics. All of that makes pitchers, for example, more efficient, and less injury prone.

Same thing for hitting. Sure, you can be strong and swing a good bat, but mechanics, stance – those are all part of the equation, too, and when they’re overlooked, the results won’t be pretty. That’s where a place like Zoned Sports Academy comes in.

Baxter and his staff will work with teams as a group, and individually, catering training sessions to individual needs. One kid has a hitch in his swing, the other isn’t positioned right coming off the mound? They’ll work on that.

Baxter has kept up with the times over the years, continually adding new programs and technology at Zoned Sports Academy. That included virtual instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, and two years ago, he instituted a new strength training program.

Duke Baxter and his staff offer one-on-one instruction in baseball and softball at Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater.

Last season, it all paid off on the field. There’s Bridgewater-Raritan, of course, which swept to a Skyland Conference Delaware Division title, Somerset County title, and the North 2 Group 4 and overall Group 4 state championship. The Hun School won the Mercer County Tournament and the state Prep A Tournament. And Governor Livingston won the Union County Tournament, Central Jersey Group 2 and the overall state Group 2 title.

Oh, and by the way, the Highlanders are just 22-0 this season, and the No. 1 ranked team in the state, having won 27 straight going back to last season!

On the softball side, Zoned trains a dozen or so schools, including Pingry, which reached this year’s Somerset County Tournament semifinals, and Watchung Hills, which played in last week’s county championship.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Duke Baxter, founder and owner of Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater:

Click the logo below to learn more about training for baseball – or softball – at Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater… where an athlete has to be to succeed! Reach them at 732-537-1770!

by Mike Pavlichko

Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater celebrates baseball and softball signees, continues to innovate with new strength training program

SPONSORED CONTENT

The wall just to the right on the front door at Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater is impressive. And a pretty nice touch.

Large banners adorn what would otherwise be a large, bare, white panel. They beckon the future baseball and softball stars of tomorrow to take a look.

Every year, Zoned holds Signing Day, where all the student-athletes who train there sign on with their college choice. There’s every type of school imaginable, from Franklin & Marshall, East Stroudsburg and Rowan to Rutgers, Seton Hall, Columbia and UConn.

The Class of 2022 poster has 30 head shots of softball and baseball players heading to the next level.

All that’s because of the individual and team instruction offered at Zoned by Duke Baxter and his team.

Duke Baxter and his staff offer one-on-one instruction in baseball and softball at Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater.

Having an indoor sports facility to train year-round is a big plus, where training can take place in the winter. For area high school baseball teams, that means they can come in once the New Year starts in January and get in about eight weeks of work before their own spring training.

This year, with a shortened baseball preseason due to the new NJSIAA calendar, that was a big plus: Zoned trained three of the four teams that were in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals: Ridge, Bridgewater-Raritan and Pingry.

But Duke Baxter – who played collegiately at North Florida and spend some time late in his pro career with the Somerset Patriots when they were in the independent Atlantic League – isn’t one to just keep doing the same thing, year in, year out. He’s always looking to be innovative.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he took training online with virtual sessions. The newest addition to the Zoned roster is a strength program, with various levels designed for different age groups and ability levels.

Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko got a chance to sit down with Duke Baxter and talk about all Zoned Sports Academy has to offer. To learn more, click the logo below. To hear the interview, scroll down!

by Mike Pavlichko

SPONSORED: Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater celebrating 20 years of training baseball, softball stars of tomorrow

Duke Baxter is a ball of energy, as soon as you walk in the door of Zoned Sports Academy. Even after 20 years in the game.

Actually, he’s been in the game of baseball much longer, playing the game as a kid, collegiately at North Florida, and ending with a stint within earshot of his gleaming training facility just off Route 28 – with the Somerset Patriots, then of the independent Atlantic League.

Does he have another 20 years? You bet.

Duke Baxter, owner and founder of Zoned Sports Academy.

When he started out, training academies weren’t nearly as popular as they are now. Many doubted he could do it; offering individual coaching to baseball and softball players in Central Jersey and beyond – and eve to their coaches!

There’s also team training, too. In fact, Ridge and Bridgewater-Raritan – half the teams playing in Monday’s Somerset County Tournament semifinals at TD Bank Park – both train at Zoned Sports Academy.

And he’s adapted to the growing influence of technology, posting TikTok videos, and producing and hosting the “Get Zoned In” podcast.

Click the graphic above to listen to the podcast on Spotify!

Zoned Sports Academy has grown and thrived over the years, and even survived in the face of challenges like COVID-19, where he developed virtual training sessions, and was even featured on Fox News because of it.

Click here to find out more about Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater.

And click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with owner and founder Duke Baxter about Zoned Sports Academy, and all they have to offer: