Bucknell University Athletics
Hitting his stride
3/28/2008 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 28, 2008
By Drew Markol, for The Intelligencer
phillyBurbs.com
Put yourself in this spot. You were a very good high school baseball player on a very good team, but when you got to college, you realized there were a lot of other guys from a lot of other towns with the same credentials.
Nonetheless, you tried out for the team as a freshman but were deemed not good enough. In other words, you were cut.
It's a scenario that plays out across the country in every sport at every college -- the realization that the world of athletics is full of big fish in small ponds and when the pond gets bigger a lot of the fish don't make it.
Mark Angelo was one of those guys who lived this his first year at Bucknell. The former Quakertown standout, and All-Intelligencer selection, had the credentials but was told thanks, but no thanks.
That's when his story took a different twist. Instead of doing what 99 percent of other college freshmen would do, give up the dream and move on, he took a different approach. Call it an "I'll show them" kind of thing.
"I guarantee there was never a time when my brother thought to himself that that was it," said Greg Angelo, a sophomore pitcher at Lehigh. "That's not the way he is. He's a confident person and absolutely the hardest working person I've ever been around. I really admire him for that.
"The fact he got cut was just more motivation. Nobody will ever outwork him and now he's reaping the benefits with the kind of season he's having."
As the senior starting first baseman for the Bisons, Angelo is second on the team in hitting with a gaudy .421 average; he leads the team in hits with 32; and is second in RBIs with 19.
The business management major has already been a Patriot League academic honor roll choice. If he keeps his surge going on the field he's also going to be a part of the all-league team as well.
"My thought process going into the season was just to concentrate on hitting the ball hard," Angelo said. "A good benchmark that I use is to try and hit the ball hard at least twice a game. If I get a hit, I get a hit. If not, I know I'm hitting the ball the way I need to. I'm definitely pleased with the start I've had to the season, but we have a long way to go."
But what about what happened three years ago, when he was told he wasn't quite good enough to play on the collegiate level.
"Everything in the past I don't worry about," Angelo said. "With baseball there are always things you need to work on and I needed to work on a lot of things and I've tried to do that every year. You just need to be concerned about the next game, the next at-bat."
That tunnel vision -- the continual drive to be better than the day before -- was more of a hindrance than a help in high school. "Having an o-fer (no hits) in high school was the end of the world," he said.
What he needed to do, and did years ago, was not let the game eat at him as much as it had before.
"Early in his junior year he got off to a slow start because he was trying too hard," said Rich Rodeghiero, the former Quakertown coach.
"I told him I wanted to see a smile on his face and enjoy the game. The talent and ability was there and when he stopped trying to fight himself it came out. And after he was cut his first year at college I wasn't surprised that it didn't stop him. That's not the way he is. So many kids would end it with the sport when that happened, but I knew Mark wouldn't."
Instead, the team co-captain can look forward to the Patriot League Tournament in early May and maybe even the June amateur draft.
Ah, but before all of that there will be a certain three-game series against a certain team and a certain pitcher to end the regular season.
"I faced my brother for the first time ever last year and went 2-for-2 with two singles against him," Angelo said. "He's a lefty and I bat lefty and I was just looking for a fastball the first time up and he threw me one. It was pretty neat."
In Greg's defense, there is a part of that story his brother usually omits.
"We won the game, so I got a little revenge," laughed Greg. "But he got two hits off me and I've certainly taken some verbal abuse over that. Our last series is against Bucknell and I'll pitch against them.
"It's a little nerve-wracking and a little weird. He's trying to get a hit and I'm trying to get him out. But you just have to concentrate and not think about it being your brother you're facing."
Once the tournaments end, Mark Angelo will wait and wonder if any major league team will select him. If not, he'll likely try to latch on with an Independent League team with the hope of getting noticed that way.
"Right now, I have my eyes set on the draft," Angelo said. "I've been in contact with some club and it's definitely always been a dream of mine to play professionally."
Whether he'll get that chance is to be determined. A 2-for-2 (single and a double off the wall) performance against Eastern Kentucky lefty ace and top prospect Christian Friedrich a few weeks back didn't hurt.
"When we were playing in Florida (earlier this month) Mark generated some interest from a couple of pro scouts," said Bucknell coach Gene Depew. "If he keeps playing the way he is now I think someone will give him an opportunity to play."
