Hawks’ Aybar, Stravato sign NLI’s

Matt Metcalf
Posted 5/12/15

Christian Aybar, an outfielder on the Hendricken baseball team, and Nick Stravato, a sprinter on the track team, each signed a National Letter of Intent on Thursday afternoon to continue their …

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Hawks’ Aybar, Stravato sign NLI’s

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Christian Aybar, an outfielder on the Hendricken baseball team, and Nick Stravato, a sprinter on the track team, each signed a National Letter of Intent on Thursday afternoon to continue their athletic careers at the next level.

The pair of seniors will attend Division II, Northeast 10 Conference schools in the fall, as Aybar will head to Southern New Hampshire University, while Stravato will enroll at Merrimack College.

The paths of Aybar and Stravato aren’t exactly the same, but they do have one thing in common – nothing came easy on their paths to becoming a college athlete.

Aybar saw time last season in Hendricken’s outfield and performed whenever his number was called – mostly hitting out of the leadoff spot for the state champion Hawks.

It wasn’t the easiest feat to crack the top lineup in the state, particularly because Aybar isn’t the biggest or strongest guy in the program, but he did it after working his way up the ranks on the freshmen and junior varsity teams.

And on Thursday, all of that hard work paid off, as the corner outfielder inked his way into the Penmen’s program for next spring.

“It feels great,” Aybar said. “The recruiting process has been really tough. To finally make the commitment official is awesome so I can get in the right mindset for the next level of baseball.”

Aybar talked to a number of schools, spanning from Division I to Division III, but he could really envision himself at Southern New Hampshire.

The Northeast 10 Conference also plays with wooden bats – one of the only collegiate wooden bat leagues – which prepares hitters well for the professional ranks.

This was undoubtedly a determining factor in Aybar’s decision.

“At the end of the day, it was just the right fit,” Aybar said. “It’s a great conference and it being a wooden bat league is big if I get drafted – which I plan to. They have one of the best teams in Division II, so I’m really excited.”

Aybar has dealt with an arm injury this season, missing the first 11 games thus far, but is working his way back and is hoping to contribute with his teammates down the stretch.

“It’s coming along very well,” Aybar said when asked about his injury. “They said I’d miss the whole season, but I told them from the start that I was going to work hard to get this arm good and going, and my mobility is almost completely there. I’m looking at maybe a week or two, then I’ll be back to what I love doing.”

Stravato will be going to Merrimack in the fall as a sprinter on the track team, but he too came to Hendricken with the dream of playing college baseball.

Stravato actually started over Aybar on the freshmen baseball team, but he decided to stick with track year-round after playing junior varsity baseball as a sophomore.

In the winter of his freshman year, Stravato went out for the indoor track team and had quite a bit of success. But he would then pass on outdoor track in the spring for his first love – baseball.

“That’s just how Hendricken is,” Stravato said. “You come here thinking you’re going to do one thing, then you leave doing another. When I came here, everyone was talking about me being a big baseball guy. But now I’m going on to pursue track and field. So it’s crazy how you can discover your true talent at this school.”

The success didn’t come easy, though. Stravato knew he was fast, but had to adapt to a new sport – something that wasn’t natural to him like baseball was.

But his decision to take on track year-round paid instant dividends, as he earned a Second Team All-Class selection last spring as part of Hendricken’s 4x200 relay team.

He’s continued to be a reliable sprinter for the Hawks this spring, and will look to be the same next year at the collegiate level at Merrimack – a place where Stravato feels is a great fit for him for the next four years.

“I’m the type of person where I go somewhere and see it and know that’s what I want to do,” Stravato said. “It was just a very homey feeling. When I went there, I just knew it was for me. Merrimack was actually the only college that I applied to.”

No matter the difference of paths, Stravato and Aybar have one common goal this spring – to win a championship.

Both will have a good opportunity, as the baseball and track teams at Hendricken are both 11-0 this season.

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