Harrison’s Ciraco Hitting Stride In College

Matt Ciraco was a member of four different varsity teams during his tenure at Harrison High School. Though he was a well-recognized athlete at the high school level, he is now hitting his stride playing college ball.

Honors from his senior football season included first team all-state, quarterback of the year in Section I and the Con Ed Scholar Athlete of the Year. He was also awarded the Charles "Doc" Blanford special achievement award for overcoming a spinal surgery before his sophomore year.

But that wasn't the only injury he would face while playing for Harrison. He suffered a shoulder injury during football season that cost him his senior basketball season. But instead of sulking, Ciraco joined the winter track and field team and it helped him prepare for the baseball season.

Other awards Ciraco received in high school were the Abbott Morris Scholarship for outstanding performance in athletics, academics and leadership, and he was named 2007 Harrison senior male athlete of the year by the school.

It didn't take colleges long to notice the decorated high school athlete. During his senior year he was recruited by several college football and baseball coaches. But rather then immediately going to a four year school, Ciraco made the decision to go to Perkiomen Prep School in Pennsylvania.

The move paid off, while at Perkiomen he set a record for batting average in a season at .688 as well as most consecutive games with a home run—with six.

Ciraco's performance on the field and in the classroom at Perkiomen was impressive enough to earn him a partial academic and athletic scholarship to Le Moyne College in Syracuse.

"College baseball is a much different atmosphere than high school baseball," Ciraco said. "Obviously the nine inning game was a change compared to the seven inning, but mostly it was the competition. Every lineup is strong top to bottom and the players and pitchers we face were the best at their respective high school, so the talent is top notch with every team."

Also gone are the 10 minute bus rides from Harrison to Rye for a game. Besides talent, Ciraco said that the travel involved in college is one of the biggest changes.

"The amount of games played was a drastic change. High school we played around 20, but in college we play 56 games with travel, sometimes takes 20 hours to places like Florida, Mississippi, Texas, etc," Ciraco said. "Much different lifestyle than playing a game at Port Chester and then having mom make me dinner at home."

Last spring Ciraco contributed mostly as a designated hitter, playing 34 games. He says his two best games were at the University of Cincinnati, when he went 4-for-5 with a stolen base and a game at the Brooklyn Cyclone's stadium in Coney Island, where he went 2-for-3 with a walk and a home run.

Le Moyne will start their baseball season again in February 2011 after going 28-27 last year. No doubt, the Dolphins are looking for a big season from Ciraco as they look to improve this season.