It is rare that a set of twins would both be as athletic and talented as the Yalon twins. What’s even more rare is that they both would be interested in playing college ball at the same school and the interest would be reciprocated by the school.
Jared & Derek Yalon, both Connetquot 2019, announced yesterday that they verbally committed to Stony Brook University. Jared, a lefty that plays first base, was named All-County as a sophomore. Derek plays left field and bats righty.
They both stated that they originally became interested in attending Stony Brook in 2012 when the Sea Wolves made an appearance on ESPN playing LSU in the Super Regionals. If there was any question how important qualifying for the College World Series is for a program, look no further than that statement as they were both only 10-years-old and it’s been five years since that fateful postseason run.
Since that time, Stony Brook has continued to bring in many of the top players from Long Island as well as Canada and California.
Derek noted that playing with his brother was a huge factor because “we are competitive and try to outperform each other.”
They both play on the HDMH Titans, so it is no surprise that Derek cited Marcus Stroman as his favorite player in addition to Mike Trout, Derek Jeter and John Wall because they “respect themselves, the fans and the game.”
Jared and Derek are both players that a team could really build around. The Connetquot Chiefs are fortunate that they not only have them, but also the Ungar brothers as well as Matt Brown-Eiring, which is a pretty impressive group.
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From the outside, it appears they will be one of the early favorites for 2018, but if not this year, then certainly in 2019.
The twins both believe in the current group of players.
“My goals are to win a county, Long Island and state championship with our upcoming team,” said Derek. “That group is very special,” he said.
Jared also stated that he “believes we could be competing for a Long Island Championship in the future”.
It will be interesting to monitor the trajectory of the program, they have a group that resembles Commack from last year.
