The last few months has been bit of a homecoming for Alex Jurczynski.

“Getting to this point is really a dream come true,” said Jurczynski, the head baseball coach at Siena. “Being close to family, being at Siena.”

The journey for the first-year Saints skipper has certainly been unique.

The Schenectady native played college baseball at Mohawk Valley Community College and Oswego, prior to getting his first head coaching gig at Hudson Valley Community College and then serving as an assistant coach at Princeton for the last six seasons.

“My former boss, Scott Bradley at Princeton, was someone who really taught me how to sort of manage a program and just do the right things,” he said.

Along the way, Jurczynski also dabbed in politics, running for city council — albeit unsuccessfully. His father Al, who was a two-term mayor of Schenectady, inspired the run.

“As I grew up, I learned how important it was to just build connections with people and just sort of have had the opportunity to meet new people every day,” Jurczynski said. “And without my dad, I want to be here.”

He says baseball is stressful, but not as stressful as politics.

Between working with constituents and players, it’s helped him be prepared for this. Jurczynski is now beginning a new era at Siena, taking over for Tony Rossi, who retired after coaching the Saints for 54 seasons.

“I’ve known Coach Rossi for years. I've worked his camps as a college student. I've come to his camp as a youngster,” Jurczynski said. “But Coach Rossi has been a mentor to me over the years, and we still keep in touch to this day.”

This is exactly the opportunity Jurczynski has been yearning for: leading a program to help student-athletes grow on the off the field.

“Trying to teach them how to learn from their mistakes and how to grow from them is the most important thing,” Jurczynski said. “And I think that's what we're trying to do, day in and day out.”