When Mik Aoki left the head coaching position at Boston College a month ago to take the same position at Notre Dame, it left some of his 2011 commitments at a crossroads.
BB&N's Andrew Chin staunchly stuck by his verbal to BC. But Lawrence Academy righthander Joe Napolitano -- who committed to the Eagles as a sophomore -- talked things over with his family and decided to de-commit and look at his options once more.
Napolitano, a 6-foot-3 senior from Hollis, N.H., took a visit to Wake Forest a week ago. This weekend, he's been down at the World Woodbat Association Baseball Heaven showcase in Yaphank, N.Y.; last night at 9 p.m., while out at dinner with family and close friends in nearby Port Jefferson, N.Y., he decided to make the call to the Deacons staff and make his verbal commitment.
"Wake Forest came along, UConn came along, and those were my top two choices the last few weeks," Napolitano said. "Wake Forest seems like a prestigious school. I was impressed by how well the academics are and how they're meshed into the athletics program. It's a good fit for me, I really like it alot."
Any regrets?
"I guess," Napolitano said. "I had a year to kind of dwell on it, the BC lifestyle...as a child growing up in New England, you look at Boston College as the place to go, it's the hometown school. BC and Wake Forest were two dreams schools for me growing up. I guess there's some regret, but I'm in great situation at Wake Forest. It was a turn for the better."
Meanwhile, one of the most dominant pitchers in the state of New Hampshire will be taking his exploits to another big time program in the fall of 2011. Jordan Cote, a 6-foot-4 righthander from Winnisquam (N.H.) Regional, made a verbal commitment to Coastal Carolina University late in the week. He chose the Chanticleers over offers from Vanderbilt, UConn and Central Florida.
"I liked the atmosphere when I went down there," Cote said. "I like where the school's located. It's a really big baseball school, not like the other schools, where football or basketball come first. I liked the coaches, it was a real friendly atmosphere when I was down there."
Cote is known most around the Granite State for delivering the Tilton-based school its first Class M championship in school history with a no-hitter in the state final, a 2-0 win over Somersworth. Cote went 11-0 this year for the Bears, with a 0.66 ERA, 113 strikeouts in 63 innings, and just 17 walks. So far in his career at Winnisquam, he is 25-1 with a 0.96 ERA, 229 strikeouts in 168 innings pitches, and 52 walks. His fastball currently tops out at 93 miles per hour.
He'll be a welcoming addition a Chanticleers squad that was the No. 4 overall seed in this year's NCAA tournament, making it all the way to the Super Regional on their Myrtle Beach, S.C. campus before bowing out to eventual national champion South Carolina.