When Edgewood senior catcher Alex Sperduto started playing travel baseball at age 13, he made it his goal to play in college and to continue to play as long as he can.
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That dream was almost put on hold after suffering an injury in the second half of his junior year.
Sperduto dislocated his kneecap and fractured his femur bone while warming up for the second game of a doubleheader at Conneaut.
“I missed half my season, like the whole end of it, and then through almost all summer, and I didn't get any scouting like all year through the summer and everything and junior year or all that stuff,” Sperduto said.
The summer between a player’s junior and senior year can often be the most important time for scouts to see them in person.
But Sperduto kept at it and was cleared from his injuries last summer and went to a baseball showcase, where he caught the attention of the University of Mount Union.
“I think I took like one round of BP before that and then Mount saw me a week after I was cleared,” Sperduto said.
He was invited to visit the campus and then everything fell into place.
Sperduto has committed to continuing his education after high school and to play for the Purple Raiders, an NCAA Division III program which plays in the Ohio Athletic Conference. He plans to major in management.
“I just fell in love with the campus. I like all the coaches, all nice guys. Met a lot of the guys on the baseball team and I just enjoyed my stay down there,” Sperduto said. “I did an overnight and I just liked everything about the campus and I liked all the guys. It's a good baseball school, high-level baseball.”
Sperduto said the decision doesn’t give him any reason to let up in the upcoming season for the Warriors.
“I'm going go at it just as I would any season," he said. "Just play every game. Just kind of like it's your last, like you're playing in the World Series, just play your hardest every game."
Sperduto's goals for his senior season with the Warriors include winning the Chagrin Valley Conference Lake Division championship, batting around .500 and playing well when Edgewood heads down to Florida to play some spring games.
He also looks forward to spending time with his teammates.
“I just want our team to grow. We're all close. So I just want us to stay close and have that chemistry we've had since we were all younger, we've been playing with each other for a long time,” Sperduto said.
A well-rounded athlete, Sperduto also helped the Warriors golf team last fall win a share of the CVC Lake, earn a sectional crown and advance to the Division II district tournament.
Even though he enjoys playing golf, baseball will be his sport in college.
“It's a failing sport. You're always going fail, but it just feels good when you're doing good. Like you get in the groove and it's just everything's going good,” Sperduto said.
“It's just such a good feeling. and being around all the guys, it's just a fun sport to do with the boys and just have fun.”
One of his best memories was when he had the game-winning walk-off hit last season in a 4-3 win over Lakeside.
Sperduto enjoys always being involved in the game as a catcher.
“You're just always in it. You gotta be locked in every time, you're kind of in charge of everything. So that's a big thing for me, being like a team captain and leader on the team, being able to kind of control the field and the games in my hands,” he said.
Former Edgewood catcher Tony Hall also helped Sperduto learn how to block balls from getting by him.
“When I was younger, I was never able to block the ball and it was just always in my head. I was never able to commit to blocking it and I worked with Tony over the summer and he was like, dude, you gotta just get down,” Sperduto said. “Like once you get it, you got it. And that just kind of snapped into me. That was the only thing that held me back.”
Sperduto has college baseball in his roots as his father, Chris played at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
“It's really cool, kind of, like living through his shoes that he was in before, and, I know it's really important to him just watching me play baseball. Kind of doing the same thing he loved doing when he was younger,” Sperduto said.
Edgewood coach Derek Stern said Sperduto has been a coach’s dream.
“He has always been a leader on and off the field for our club. His work ethic has been contagious this year,” Stern said. “His success hasn’t went to his head either. He remains coachable and continues to work hard everyday.
"After Alex had a very unfortunate injury, he worked hard to get himself back quickly and is stronger than ever. We are excited for our season and Alex plays a key role for our club behind the plate, on the mound and in the batters box.”
Along with his family, Sperduto thanked the Mount Union coaching staff for the opportunity to continue playing baseball after high school, and all his previous baseball coaches.