(Editor’s Note: David Aufiero is one of the top pitchers on the island. The hard-throwing RHP just finished up an outstanding season for the North Shore Vikings in which he went 7-1 with a 1.14 ERA over 49 IP. He allowed only 30 hits and 14 BB while fanning 67 batters which is good for a 0.90 WHIP. He fired 7 CGs and faced 5 All-County pitchers along the way. Among his victories were two complete game shutouts (one one-hitter and a two-hitter). In the postseason, he fired two complete games; against Mepham and Seaford. He did yield more than two runs in any start and he allowed just two successful stolen base attempts in four tries while also picking off two runners from first base. He recently committed to Sacred Heart, where his brother Matt (Chaminade 2017) plays. The following words are his own…)
The recruiting process wasn’t something I wanted to over stress about. No matter where I ended up, I knew I was gonna find a way to make it worth while.
In the beginning, what I stressed about most was whether I wanted to be a pitcher or position player. I’ve been playing Short my whole life and was what I worked on for the entirety of my career. When I got older I began getting more involved with pitching, because my older brother got recruited as a pitcher. I knew that I had a better arm than him and only felt that pitching could be a better go for me. So I began to get more serious with this as my main focus.
Growing up I had three other brothers and we would play baseball together everyday and would argue who is the better player. We all supported each other at games and I thank them for supporting me growing up. I worked hard with them to get better everyday on it and it began to get really fun, but I wanted to be better than them so I got more serious. For the most part, I had an idea where I wanted to go. Early in the season Sacred Heart was the first school I began to talk to. I heard good things, so I decided to go to a showcase in June. I pitched really well there and the two coaches were impressed. The pitching coach started talking to me and I instantly thought he was the man. Coach Wayne Mazzoni pulled me aside and introduced me to the head coach, Nick Restaino, who was a cool guy as well. We had a long talk about how they could see me pitching there. Then the pitching coach contacted my Next Level coach Shaun Manning who said good things about me.
They came to one of my games at Diamond Nation and watched me as well. They went on and gave me an offer and told me to think about it. I began to like what they were telling me but it was still early so I kept it in the back of my head. I went forth to go deeper in the process after this even though I felt pretty comfortable where I stood. Then I started training to get more looks from different schools I wanted to go to. I began to get a couple more offers but wasn’t totally interested with what they were offering me. I didn’t want to panic because I knew I had a few options. It came down to a couple schools but with everything coming into play I knew Sacred Heart was where I wanted to be in the end. I ended up committing there early August. Although the recruiting process is different for everyone I wouldn’t say my decision was a hard or easy one, but I made it. I already visited the school and I loved it. I’m very excited to play baseball there I know it’s gonna be fun and I can’t wait to go to Sacred Heart.
