After finishing his upcoming senior season in high school baseball, Highland’s Sam LoPiccolo will move on to Dayton’s Sinclair Community College.
The Scot athlete noted that he felt Sinclair was the perfect place for him to improve in the sport in order to move on to a Division I school after a year or two.
“It’s just what seemed right for me,” he said. “They have a very good baseball program and I can use it to apply to bigger colleges to get more scholarships.”
LoPiccolo said that, while he has the size to pitch at a Division I level (6’7”), he does need to improve in other aspects of his game.
“I mainly need to focus on velocity and location,” he said. “I have the physicality of it.”
Before deciding to attend Sinclair, LoPiccolo was looking at a few Division I programs like Ball State, Cincinnati and Youngstown State; however he felt Sinclair would help him improve his performance the most.
“I saw their results of alumni,” he said. “This year, they had eight of 15 move on to Division I. And it’s a two-year school and I can get all the basic classes out of the way.”
LoPiccolo, who is planning to study in health care with the goal of becoming a physician’s assistant, added that the main challenge at Sinclair will simply be to balance everything.
“Balancing family, academics and baseball,” he said. “It’s going to be a busy time.”
In light of that, he said that what he’ll miss most after leaving Highland will be the friends he’s made throughout his time there.
“Mainly my friends,” he said. “When I play baseball at college, I’ll make friends on the team, but all my time will be spent on getting better.”
