Sports |

Catcher finds home in Orono

Second-year transfer leaves Illinois, joins former teammates

By Nick Dyer

Posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008, 12:00 am

Joe Mercurio takes his lead in a recent game. Mercurio landed at UMaine after bouncing around from town to town and state to state.

The sport is still the same, although the scenery and climate have changed for the University of Maine catcher. The once warm spring Illinois days of last year have been replaced by the cool, crisp Maine air, with traces of snow still found on campus. It’s hard to believe it’s baseball season, but for second-year transfer Joe Mercurio, these are the days he lives for.

“Baseball was my first love. My dad played, so he was a big influence on me playing,” Mercurio said.

The Brewster, NY, native started his baseball career when he was six years old and progressed as a shortstop for his youth baseball teams. The switch from shortstop to catcher came quickly and unexpectedly for Mercurio.

“I caught one game when I was eight, and my dad said I’d never play there again. Then when I was 10, he wasn’t at a game, and I asked to catch,” Mercurio said. “Three balls got by me, and I threw all three runners out.”

Along with playing basketball and soccer throughout middle school and high school, Mercurio saw his chance to shine as a catcher and focused on the game where he knew he could succeed.

“I realized I wanted and could play college baseball when I was out to dinner with a friend when I was 14,” Mercurio said. “His father told us that it was just a dream, and we shouldn’t try to chase it or we’d just hurt ourselves. That made me want it more because I knew I could do it, and I wanted to prove people like that wrong.”

The opportunity to play college baseball came shortly after he played at the East Coast Professional Baseball Showcase, which is run by Major League Baseball for the top 70 players out of high school.

The assistant coach at the University of Illinois approached Mercurio and was impressed by what he saw from the young catcher.

Pursued by two other schools, Mercurio had to make a crucial decision.

“Old Dominion came at me the hardest, and at the time I didn’t even know who they were. When coach Trimper came to [UMaine] they also recruited me, but I didn’t even get a chance to see the school because of Illinois,” Mercurio said.

After talking to the coaching staff and visiting the Illinois campus, he fell in love with the school and thought it would be a good fit for him to grow as a player.

“My year at Illinois was very frustrating. I played behind Lars Davis, who was drafted in the third round by the Rockies last year, so I had a lot of competition,” Mercurio said. “They never told me or gave me a reason why I wasn’t playing. I started three games and got only 18 total at bats. It was very disappointing to me.”

After a season, Mercurio packed his bags and headed back to New York, wanting to change schools and a change in the way the baseball program was run.

“The reason I left [Illinois] was the head coach mainly. He and I didn’t see eye to eye on anything and butted heads a lot. It was too much of a dictatorship for me because everything had to be done one way. The minute I got there, they started changing things. I wasn’t the only miserable one there, but [I was] one of the only kids who wasn’t from Illinois, so I had no problem leaving that school,” Mercurio said.

“I chose [UMaine] because there was a certain comfort level I felt here. Kevin Jackson and I played together on the World Yacht Clippers since we were 12 years old, and I have played against Myckie Lugbauer since I was nine,” Mercurio said. “It was very easy having those guys here. Also Joe Miller had played for the Clippers as well, and when he was looking to transfer from High Point, we talked and this was the best fit. I didn’t really look anywhere else. I knew this was where I should’ve been all along.”

Bouncing around from town to town and state to state, Mercurio had to adapt to the different climates and scenery that each state offered.

“Going from New York to Illinois was weird because there is nothing out there,” Mercurio said. “I’m not exactly from the city, but I’m not used to looking in all directions and seeing nothing. But baseball is baseball everywhere.”

Just like Freddie Prinze Jr. and a scene right out of “Summer Catch,” Mercurio will also be traveling to Cape Cod, Mass. this summer to play in the elite Cape Cod baseball summer league.

“It’s not an easy league to play in, but I feel I’m ready for it and it’s going to be a great opportunity for me,” Mercurio said.

For Mercurio, this summer could be a step in the right direction for a future in baseball.

“It’s the best opportunity to play in front of scouts for me. Hopefully I play well and keep some eyes on me. It’s very exciting, but I don’t want to jinx it,” Mercurio said.

If a future in baseball isn’t on the path ahead for Mercurio, he still plans to be close to the game, and sports in general, after the ride is over. The broadcast journalism major hopes to be on television one day, except on the other side of the game as an analyst.

“Broadcasting will be fun and I know a lot about other sports so it would be really easy for me to help them out, something with ESPN hopefully.”