Who would have ever thought that FAU would be the springboard for a professional sports career? Well, after Brian Pare received a tryout with the Chicago Bears I decided to check into the idea of FAU players making it big.
It came as no surprise when I found that the Blue Wave baseball team led all FAU sports with 20 players in the pros. OK, leading all sports isn’t really that impressive if you consider that the softball team, with three players, and the football team, with one, are the only others to represent FAU at the next level.
What is impressive is that the Blue Wave sent 10 of those players into the pros in the last two years.
Now keep in mind that the pros for baseball include Major League Baseball and the minor league system, which includes Triple-A, Double-A, and Single-A ball. FAU is well represented in all of the minor leagues and actually has one player in MLB.
The players are scattered across the country from as far as the state of Washington to just up I-95 in Port St. Lucie.
The most notable name in the minors is recently drafted Jeff Fiorentino. Fiorentino led FAU this past season in home runs and wasted no time getting his name on the score sheet for the Aberdeen IronBirds of the New York-Penn League.
In seven games Fiorentino is batting .333 with seven hits. Of those seven hits five have been for extra bases and one was a game winning home run. Fiorentino is stationed in the outfield for the IronBirds even after being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles for his ability to play catcher.
Also making a name for himself is former FAU ace pitcher Randy Beam. Beam, playing for the Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League, has an 0-1 record but he has a very low 1.46 ERA in six games. In 12 1/3 innings, Beam has only given up two runs and has struck out 13 batters.
All has not been well for all of FAU’s players in the minors. Former closer Chris Saxton is off to an 0-2 start with a 9.00 ERA in seven games for the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Pioneer League. Saxton’s new teammate, former FAU RBI king Rusty Brown is having struggles too, batting .100, with a home run and one double for the season.
With young players trying to work their way out of the minors, one FAU player has made it all the way to the big leagues.
Pitcher Tim Harikkala is a middle reliever for the Colorado Rockies. Harikkala is 1-1 in the 2004 season with a 3.00 ERA. He received his break after a stellar year for Ottawa in 2003, when he went 5-0 with a .81 ERA.
The down side of Harikkala being a pro is that unless you read this you might not ever know that he went to FAU. On his profile for the Rockies, Harikkala’s college is listed as unknown.
Baseball is not the only sport with athletes making it big. FAU’s softball team has also sent players to the minors and the pros.
Former pitcher Nikki Myers and outfielder Heather Wright are playing for the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch softball league, while Callie Piper and Amanda Morin are playing catcher and pitcher for the Stratford Brakettes in the Amateur Softball Association.
Myers has compiled a 3-2 record with a team-leading 1.48 ERA for the Racers. Myers’ ERA also has her ranked ninth in the league compared to other pitchers.
Wright is batting .185 in limited action.
Piper, who just helped FAU win its eighth consecutive A-Sun championship, is batting .340 for a team in search of its third consecutive championship.
Morin just finished her sophomore season here at FAU, and she is 4-4 with a .56 ERA for Stratford. She plans on transferring to another college for her junior year.
Also for the Stratford Brakettes, FAU pitching coach John Stratton is the field coach. Maybe he can talk Morin into sticking it out here at FAU for the rest of her college career.
With all these players in the pros, FAU almost looks like a hot bed for sports talent. Give it three more years and FAU will have even more players in MLB as well as the NFL and the NPL. Until then, FAU will continue to churn out prospects who are hoping to make it big someday.
