Peddie School pitcher Mike Gagliardi will attend the University of San Francisco next school year, and pitch for USF’s baseball team. (Staff photo by Rob Anthes.) Tony Bennett would probably kill to meet the Gagliardi family, which left not only its heart but its soul in San Francisco. Once Peddie senior and Hamilton resident Mike Gagliardi made a visit after being recruited by the University of San Francisco baseball team, it was a done deal despite offers from Boston College, Cal State Northridge and West Virginia. “After the visit, I was sold and so were my parents,” Gagliardi said. “I can’t thank them enough for all their support. My parents insisted if this place was on the moon, distance wouldn’t matter.” Actually, it’s only on the bay, and Gagliardi can’t wait to get there. “I had a feeling it was going be San Francisco from the beginning,” he said. “They have something special on the ‘Hilltop,’ as they call it. It had the academic credentials I was looking for along with being in a gorgeous city and baseball hotbed.” The Dons are a member of the West Coast Conference and were 25-29 as of May 21. Their schedule includes teams like Oregon, UCLA, Stanford, Cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine. “I developed a great relationship with the pitching coach (Seth Etherton),” Gagliardi said. “We seemed to click from the moment he started recruiting me. He’s a three-time All-American at USC, won the College World Series and was a first-round draft pick so he brings a wealth of knowledge. He preaches an aggressive ‘attack mode’ pitching philosophy, and I am confident I will thrive in his system.” Gagliardi’s journey to the west started in the Hamilton Little Lads, where he played from ages 6-to-12. He also played on the Nottingham Little League 12-year-old District 12 All-Star team, and helped the Nottingham 14-year-old All-Stars win a Babe Ruth District One Tournament. From there he went to the Hamilton Lou Gehrig League, and played travel with Action Baseball (in Austin, Tex.) and the New Jersey Marlins. After a year pitching on Steinert’s freshman team, Mike went 4-0 and allowed two earned runs all season as the ace of the JV team. He transferred to Peddie for his junior year and had an ERA just over 2.00. This past season, a bruised elbow caused him to miss most of the season. “When you get a new junior who can pitch with the ability that Mike has, obviously it’s a big lift,” Falcons coach Erik Treese said. “He’s very serious about what he does and he’s very good about doing his work out of season. He was instrumental in leading a lot of the younger players this off-season in the winter months to go to the weight room and organize some off-season workouts.” Despite “starting over” during his junior year, Gagliardi said the Peddie community made it easy to transition late in his high school career. He took on the aforementioned responsibilities in order to pay back his teammates. “I didn’t think I had done enough to earn their respect, I had a lot more to offer them,” he said. “They gave me so much support during my first year at Peddie, I knew I owed more to my teammates. “However, contrary to what I thought, they gave me an enormous amount of respect as a leader. They gave me the confidence to guide them. It was an awesome group to be around. They are gritty kids.” Asked it drove him nuts to sit on the sidelines this year, Gagliardi could only laugh. “Drive me nuts? While I was ordered to rest, my catcher took my glove away so I couldn’t throw,” he said. “Mr. Treese yelled at me a few times because I was throwing left-handed. I did thousands of mental reps of just visualizing pitches.” When on the mound, Gagliardi has a nice arsenal. “He’s got a very live fastball, probably mid 80s,” Treese said. “He has shown the ability to throw good off-speed stuff. He could throw his curveball anywhere in the count. This year he was starting to add a two-seam fastball to get more movement. He’s got an impressive array of both off-speed and harder stuff. And he’s a tough kid.” The fact that Gagliardi was recruited by Division I schools despite playing just one year of varsity baseball indicates the continuing trend of college coaches recruiting from travel teams, which dismays Gagliardi. “The reality of it is, high school baseball isn’t too important to college coaches,” he said. “It’s a shame, because there are a lot of great things about the high school level. I am still in contact with the majority of my friends from Steinert. I talk to my former teammates as well, they keep me up to date.” Gagliardi said he should be able to start pitching again in early June. He will work on heavy and explosive leg workouts and rotational core power. “In a nutshell,” he said, “the plan is to work out whenever I’m not eating sleeping, pitching, or working. “ From there he will board a plane to San Francisco, where he left his heart and soul. Then again… “I’ll always be a Jersey guy at heart!”
Peddie School pitcher Mike Gagliardi will attend the University of San Francisco next school year, and pitch for USF’s baseball team. (Staff photo by Rob Anthes.),
