Nolan Schultz warms up for a baseball game. He has been playing since he was a child and will continue his career at the University of Rochester in the fall.
By Savanna Peterson
Being a student athlete isn’t an easy feat and succeeding in both areas can be tougher. However, Nolan Schultz, of Valrico, does it with ease. Schultz is a recent graduate of Jesuit High School in Tampa and spent part of his freshman year and his entire sophomore, junior and senior years playing on the varsity baseball team and excelling academically.
Jesuit High Schools baseball team is ranked 11th in the nation by Baseball America and has produced a steady stream of Division One collegiate athletes, along with major and minor league players.
All of Schultz’s hard work paid off when he signed his senior year to play baseball at the University of Rochester, located in Rochester, New York. He is primarily a catcher but also plays first and third base.
He choose to sign with Rochester because, “It’s a top 20 academic school and even though it’s Division Three they take baseball seriously, it’s a really good school.”
Schultz has been playing baseball for 13 years, and has had many individual and team accomplishments over the years.
During his senior year Schultz had a .449 batting average along with scoring 21 runs and 30 RBI’S. He was also first team all Hillsborough County and starting catcher for the all-star team. The Jesuit baseball team won the Class 5A District 11 tournament and has advanced to the State Final Four two years in a row. During the regular season the team had a record of 28-2-0.
“My best memory was making it to state finals two years in a row,” said Schultz.
He also has held leadership positions among different clubs at Jesuit and was a member of the golf team his freshman and sophomore year. Schultz not only preformed the required community service hours needed at Jesuit but also volunteered extra at Metropolitan Ministries and went on numerous mission trips to the Bahamas.
At Rochester Schultz plans to double major in Political Science and English.
“I plan on graduating and playing baseball all four years and if I don’t make it past that, (college baseball) I’ll just be happy with my degree,” he said.
Schultz will leave for Rochester in the fall with many academic and baseball accomplishments in his past and a bright future ahead.
