Missing your junior season of high school baseball as an upcoming college prospect is a tough blow to take, but that didn’t stop St. John’s Prep incoming senior Eric Wing. After his spring season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wing found a way to adapt, played anywhere he could and earned himself college offers. This week, Wing made his commitment to play his college baseball at St. Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine.
“Missing my junior season and not being able to play for basically the entire first month of summer, it was really tough,” said Wing. “But at the same time, I had to find ways to adapt and just keep working. We couldn’t see a ton of coaches or play in a bunch of showcases, so we did mostly video work. But in the end it all worked out.”
“Eric just gets up and grinds every day and he always maintains that work ethic,” said St. John’s Prep baseball coach Dan Letarte. “He was able to get a lot of solid work in over the summer simply because he refused to take time off.”
Wing took advantage of his opportunity to play in the Lynn Invitational this summer, one of the few baseball showcases in the area that was held this year. He put on a hitting display that impressed both Letarte and the St. Joseph’s coaches who were in attendance.
“He was hitting the ball great at the Lynn Invitational,” Letarte said of Wing. “He knocked a few balls out to the wall at Fraser Field and the St. Joseph’s coaches were standing behind home plate watching the whole time, and that was that.”
“The Lynn Invitational was a great opportunity for me and I really tried to make the most of it,” said Wing. “It was one of the few showcases that was still on.”
Both Letarte and Wing noted how important the Lynn Invitational was in getting Wing college offers, especially in a year stymied by the pandemic.
“(Lynn Invitational founder) Tim Fila is one of my good friends, and we absolutely love what he does with the Invitational every year,” Letarte said. “It provides such a great opportunity for kids to be seen by college coaches. We send kids every year and we always see great results.”
“I’ve recommended the Lynn Invitational to a number of my teammates because of how much it helped me out,” Wing said.
As for why Wing chose St. Joseph’s, it was pretty simple — the school reminded him of St. John’s Prep.
“I was looking for a smaller school, and once I got to St. Joseph’s it just really reminded me of St. John’s Prep,” said Wing. “At that point, the decision wasn’t really tough at all. Once I saw that things were really similar to St. John’s, I just felt that I could definitely stay in that kind of environment for another four years.”
This spring, Wing will get back after it for his senior season with the Eagles. Letarte is excited that he gets one more year to help mold Wing, and he’s looking for a lot from one of his star seniors.
“I’m expecting a lot from him, I’ll be honest,” said Letarte, whose teams consistently compete for Division 1 and Super 8 titles. “He’s got a lot of power and the ability to drive in a lot of runs, and we’re going to want to see that out of him. We’ll also want to see leadership from him. I think having this decision behind him will really free him up to have a great senior year.”
Wing is ready to put in the work to make that happen.
“Making this decision has taken a huge weight off my shoulders, but the work is just beginning,” said Wing. “I’ve been working three years to get to this point and have my senior season, and I can’t wait to get back out there. For now, I’ll just be grinding all fall and winter just preparing to get after it next spring.”
