DeMonica Fulfills D1 Baseball Dream At Miami

Nicholas DeMonica LHP / OF / Lakeview, OH / 2021

CORTLAND - There have not been many Division I college athletes come out of Lakeview High School.

Admittedly, it made the goal of Nick DeMonica improbable.

“I’ve had the dream since I was five,” the Lakeview junior said. “Baseball has always been my thing. I played other sports, though baseball was my priority.

“But at my school there haven’t been a lot that played Division I. The past couple of years there have been some Division II and Division III, but not D-I.”

While hoping to change that, the 6-0 170-pound left-hander struggled to get noticed.

“I had the dream of playing college baseball but I was getting kind of nervous,” DeMonica explained. “I was not gaining any velocity and nobody was talking to me. I was a little anxious not knowing if I was going to go anywhere.”

The decision to attend Prospect Performance Academy with Ben Simon proved to be a game-changer for the 42nd-ranked 2021 in Ohio.

“All last year I was topping at 82, but since I’ve gone to Ben I’ve gained five miles an hour the past four or five months,” DeMonica related. “I’ve also got a better feel for my change and curve. It’s been small things, but the velo just jumped.”

So did interest from colleges, with Miami of Ohio and Akron making contact with the sixth-rated junior left-handed pitcher in the state.

“Miami’s pitching coach reached out and wanted me to come on a visit to a camp,” DeMonica noted. “They had one in December I couldn’t make, but this past Saturday (Jan. 11) I went and after that they offered. They thought I had good potential and my spin rate was really high.”