COLLEGE BASEBALL: NEWARK VALLEY’S CRAPARO HEADING TO OHIO (2024-06-10)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Will Craparo will take his bat and glove to Ohio after high school, having signed to attend and play baseball at Franciscan University in Steubenville on Monday.
Choosing Franciscan was not a hasty decision by any means.
“I've considered it for a long time. I had a buddy that went there a few years ago and I'm Catholic,” Craparo said. “My faith is very important to me, so I also wanted to play baseball, so it just made sense to me. I went on a trip there last summer and I really liked the atmosphere, the college, so it made the most sense to me.”
Selecting mechanical engineering as a major was also a well-planned.
“I've always been debating doing engineering my entire high school career, but this year I got into the New Visions program to explore engineering more and I've learned that I like mechanical hands-on, building stuff for engineering, so that's why I'm gonna stick with it,” he said.
New Visions for Public Schools was established to help guide students down career pathways.
Craparo hopes his skills on the baseball diamond will benefit the Barons program.
“I would like to be fast on the bases, do a lot of bases, hopefully hit for as high an average as possible, and then hopefully find a spot somewhere in the outfield,” he said. “Whatever they need me to do, I'll be down to do.”
He didn’t single out any weaknesses in his game, but feels overall improvement will help him be competitive.
“Always hitting, always improve on hitting,” he said. “Along with that, my fielding in the outfield I think can use some work, but overall everything can improve.”
“This is a huge accomplishment,” coach Tim Pisarczyk said. “Will has definitely earned this accomplishment for his dedication, hard work on and off the field for the past three years. I don't think Will has missed more than three open gyms. We ran open gyms throughout the entire year. He's always there. He is always putting in the hard work.
“He's been borderline obsessed with hitting ever since I've known him. He's always asking questions about hitting. He's always in the cage. He's always hitting off a tee and it translates. That's his career in three years. Hit .409, 47 hits, on-base percentage of .562, which for a high school kid, for any kid, that's very impressive stats. And that comes from the time in the cage, time in the weight room, time on the tee, time taking live BP, things like that.
“I'm sure this hard work will continue on to next year. Keep up the hard work. Always be willing to learn more. Listen to your coaches and just keep swinging hard man.”
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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