When it comes to sports and colleges, athletes make sure they are on their “A game” when they know a recruiter is at one of their games. Getting an offer from a college as a senior is a huge deal, but it’s an even bigger deal when you get an offer as a junior, even a sophomore. Juniors: Mike Pirrotta, Julian Kislin and Ralph Gambino have already committed to a college either this year or last year. The Patriot Press interviewed the three guys on their college commitments.

In late October, Mike Pirrotta committed to Wagner college for baseball. Wagner College is a NCAA Division 1 school based in Staten Island, New York. It is a liberal arts college that offers many different majors for everyone.

When asked about his reaction of the offer from Wagner, Pirrotta stated, “I was really excited when I got the offer. I knew it was a good opportunity. I really wasn’t expecting it considering I was in Florida at the time.” He has been a pitcher for multiple teams, including his high school baseball team, which happens to be his favorite team he’s played on. He has been playing baseball for 11 years.

Mike Pirrotta was also looking at other schools besides Wagner, such as Rutgers and the University of North Carolina, and he said he was very grateful for Wagner’s offer.

Wagner is the perfect school for Pirrotta because he said, “I wanted a small school and one that was close to home- like an hour away- and Wagner fit everything I was looking for.”

In his sophomore year of high school, hockey player, Julian Kislin announced his commitment to Northeastern University. Northeastern is a private college located in Boston, Massachusetts and it is ranked a Division 1 school in the NCAA.

Kislin has been playing hockey since he was three and plays defense for his high school team as well as other competitive teams.

In the 2014-2015 hockey season, Julian Kislin, and his teammate Max Halvorsen, were featured on ESPN for an amazing play. When asked about his reaction to being highlighted he said “It was one of the greatest moments in my life. It’s such an accomplishment and I would have never thought it would’ve happened.” He was looking at other schools like Michigan State, Penn State, Colorado College, etc., and got other offers from schools, but he knew that Northeastern was the right choice for him.

Kislin’s favorite thing about Northeastern is that “it’s in Boston,” and when he got the offer “[he] couldn’t have been more happy because it’s always a school [he] loved.” He’s not definite on his major, but he knows he wants to do “something in the business field.”

Julian Kislin also added “I would like to thank my coaches throughout my career but especially I want to thank my parents for everything.”

To add another baseball commitment to the list, Ralph Gambino announced his commitment to Penn State in the beginning of January. Penn State is a D1 college in State College, Pennsylvania, with over 90,000 students attending the school every year.

Gambino has played baseball for over 10 years. “I started off with t-ball, then went on to little league, then I continued to go to bigger teams,” Ralph stated. He has been a pitcher ever since he started playing the sport.

When asked about his reaction to the offer to Penn State he said, “At first I was

really excited. I wanted to wait it out a little bit to see if I could get a bigger offer, but as time went on, I started to love Penn State more and more as a whole.”

Ralph got other offers from other schools but he knew Penn State was the right choice for him because, he said, “It is a very professional school, it’s in a big conference, the stadium is great, it has beautiful facilities and I knew I could get a good education here.” Another reason why he loves Penn State is because “it’s like totally different world when you get there.” He continued to explain that the campus was just what he wanted because it’s like its own town.

Gambino said that his favorite team he’s played on is the New Jersey Marlins. Lastly, Ralph said he would like to thank his coaches including Coach Smith and Coach Ed, as well as all of his family and friends that helped him throughout his life.

Congrats to Ralph, Mike and Julian on your commitments!