Despite missing his senior season on the mound this past spring, Bishop Fenwick’s Jake Miano is not done playing baseball. Recently, the two-sport athlete announced that he will continue his baseball career at Division III Nichols College next season.
“I think Nichols is going to be a great fit for me,” said Miano, who also played football at Fenwick. “I took a trip there last August and spoke to the coaches, they were very straightforward with what they expected from me and I loved what I heard. Plus, I think it’s going to be a great academic fit for me as well.”
Miano had a stellar 2019 season as a junior, going 5-0 with a 1.94 ERA. He also earned the win for the Crusaders in the Division 3 North title game against a strong Lynnfield team.
Miano ended up taking the momentum from that North title game right through the summer and into the fall season, when he was captain of a Fenwick team that went to the Division 6 Super Bowl. In fact, Miano was initially considering also playing football at Nichols, but in the end he decided that would be taking on a little too much.
“At the time when I was considering playing both sports, I didn’t think I was done with playing football because I was hurt and missed some time my senior season. But in the end, I thought hard about it and decided that it would just be too much to play both sports in addition to keeping up with my schoolwork.”
The baseball team was hoping that the momentum from last season would continue right through to spring, but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season before it could get started.
“Jake basically won that game for us in the Division 3 North final with how he pitched,” said Fenwick coach Russ Steeves. “We were looking forward to another great season this year. He was going to be our No. 1 pitcher and also a team captain. It’s a shame that we didn’t get to play.”
“It stunk missing the season, but at the same time you can’t dwell on it,” said Miano, who plans to study sports management at Nichols. “It unfortunately happened to everybody, so you just have to keep moving forward.”
Miano has moved forward to a new horizon this summer, as he’s been taking part in the new upstart Essex County Baseball League. The league has unofficially taken the place of American Legion baseball in the area this summer, as all American Legion games have been canceled for the entire summer.
“You have no idea how good it feels to be back out on the field, I can’t describe it,” said Miano. “It was getting rough just sitting at home playing video games and stuff. To be able to get back out and play has been so great. There are a few tweaks to the games because of COVID, but it’s just great to be out there playing.”
Miano plans on heading to Nichols in August to begin his collegiate career, with new rules in place for both his academics and athletics.
“Right now I have the option to go to school and participate in a 50/50 schedule, where 50 percent of the students go to class one day and the rest stay in their dorms and do Zoom classes on the same day. Then we alternate,” said Miano. “I’m leaning towards doing that. I’d love to get the first semester out of the way and not fall behind early.”
