Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Maine Sports

Media Credit: Amy Brooks Joe Mercurio takes his lead in a recent game. Mercurio landed at UMaine after bouncing around from town to town and state to state.

The sport is still the same, although the scenery and climate have changed for the University of Maine catcher. The once warm spring Illinois days of last year have been replaced by the cool, crisp Maine air, with traces of snow still found on campus. It's hard to believe it's baseball season, but for second-year transfer Joe Mercurio, these are the days he lives for.

"Baseball was my first love. My dad played, so he was a big influence on me playing," Mercurio said.

The Brewster, NY, native started his baseball career when he was six years old and progressed as a shortstop for his youth baseball teams. The switch from shortstop to catcher came quickly and unexpectedly for Mercurio.

"I caught one game when I was eight, and my dad said I'd never play there again. Then when I was 10, he wasn't at a game, and I asked to catch," Mercurio said. "Three balls got by me, and I threw all three runners out."

Along with playing basketball and soccer throughout middle school and high school, Mercurio saw his chance to shine as a catcher and focused on the game where he knew he could succeed.

"I realized I wanted and could play college baseball when I was out to dinner with a friend when I was 14," Mercurio said. "His father told us that it was just a dream, and we shouldn't try to chase it or we'd just hurt ourselves. That made me want it more because I knew I could do it, and I wanted to prove people like that wrong."

The opportunity to play college baseball came shortly after he played at the East Coast Professional Baseball Showcase, which is run by Major League Baseball for the top 70 players out of high school.

The assistant coach at the University of Illinois approached Mercurio and was impressed by what he saw from the young catcher.

Pursued by two other schools, Mercurio had to make a crucial decision.

"Old Dominion came at me the hardest, and at the time I didn't even know who they were. When coach Trimper came to [UMaine] they also recruited me, but I didn't even get a chance to see the school because of Illinois," Mercurio said.

Continued...

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