STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Nick Grande vividly recalls tuning in to ESPN as a 14-year-old as the Stony Brook baseball team won at LSU and reached the College World Series back in 2012.
"I just remember watching with my dad and saying, 'Wow, this is a school 10 minutes down the road. Imagine if I could play there one day,'" said Grande, who grew up in Smithtown.
Grande ultimately was able to realize his dream by representing the Seawolves, including in a regional at LSU last season as the America East champions.
He earned America East Player of the Year honors and was a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award as the national's top shortstop as a junior this past spring.
He then was drafted in the 17th round in June by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Now, one professional season later, Grande has walked away from the sport, content because he fulfilled his dream and represented Stony Brook.
He will reenroll at the university for the spring semester and take two remaining elective classes — in music and women's studies — that will allow him to graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in political science and with a minor in history.
His future plans include enrolling in law school and seeing where this initial post-baseball chapter of his life takes him.
"Now I have time to find what else I'm passionate about," he said. "The truth is, being a local guy and what I was able to do representing Stony Brook was the most important thing in my career. I committed early. I didn't have interest in anywhere else. When Coach Senk gave me the chance, that was a no-doubter to take that opportunity."
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Grande hit .332 with five homers, 24 RBIs and 19 steals in 208 at-bats while starting all 54 games for the Seawolves in 2019. He had team highs with 20 multi-hit games and a 13-game hitting streak.
After signing with the Diamondbacks, he hit a combined .176 (25-for-142) with one homer and 12 RBIs in 44 games with Hillsboro in the Northwest League and Missoula in the Pioneer League.
In retrospect, Grande said, he has no second thoughts about having bypassed his senior season with Stony Brook for a professional career. He also is unwavering in his determination to move to the next chapter of his life.
"It'll be strange," Grande said about watching his former Stony Brook teammates during the upcoming season, which begins Feb. 14 at Texas State. "But, at the same time, I don't regret my decision to leave and sign. I had so many great experiences at Stony Brook, and all the things we did as a team made it easier.
"If I'm going to commit to being away February to September [for pro ball], if I'm not 100 percent into it, that wouldn't be fair to me or anyone else in the organization. I made it farther than I ever expected. It's time to move on."
