LYNN — Two weeks ago, Lynn Classical graduate Nico Galeazzi was fully focused on starting his collegiate career at Northern Essex Community College and continuing to play baseball. But, in the time since then, a whirlwind turn of events has led to Galeazzi instead committing to play his college ball at Division II Assumption University.
“Whirlwind is an understatement for how these past couple weeks have gone,” said Galeazzi, who was Classical’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2021. “I was all-in on Northern Essex and preparing to go there and play, but then this opportunity came up and I just couldn’t be happier.”
Galeazzi initially enrolled at Northern Essex — an NJCAA powerhouse in baseball over the past several years — after he didn’t get the type of recruiting attention from colleges he was after following his senior year at Classical. He chalked it up to swollen rosters at the collegiate level due to the COVID-19 rules that allowed players an extra year of eligibility, so he figured it would be best to play baseball at Northern Essex before transferring to a different school next year.
“With COVID and everything getting messed up with recruiting last year, I just didn’t see the kinds of offers I was expecting coming out of school,” said Galeazzi. “So instead, I decided to enroll at Northern Essex and bet on myself, thinking that next year I’d be able to transfer out.”
But then, Assumption came calling.
“Obviously while I was getting ready for the season and working out, I was sending out videos to schools in anticipation of trying to transfer after my year at Northern Essex,” said Galeazzi. “So Assumption called and we set up a visit, and, long story short, the coach ended up offering me for this year and I was shocked.”
What ensued was a hectic week and a half where Galeazzi had to apply, get accepted and enroll at the school all after the deadline had already passed.
“I ended up having to apply for the fall 2022 semester and then calling the school and having them make all the changes,” said Galeazzi. “It was a pretty crazy time and we had to jump through a bunch of hoops, but it’s all set now and I couldn’t be more excited.”
So now, Galeazzi is getting his dorm room arrangements sorted out and is preparing to make the move over to Assumption within the next week.
“I just loved everything about the campus, the coaches and the program,” said Galeazzi. “They play in a great conference with great competition, and I couldn’t be happier that I get to be a part of all that.”
Galeazzi had a great senior season in multiple sports at Classical, earning Greater Boston League All-Conference honors in baseball and GBL All-Star honors in football. He was also an Agganis All-Star and an Item All-Star in both sports.
“After missing out on my junior year of baseball, the biggest thing for me was that I was just happy we were out there playing again,” said Galeazzi.
But now, the focus is on getting settled in at school and starting to prepare himself for his first college baseball season this spring.
