Most of the athletes that attend Lackawanna College and similar schools do so with a plan for how it will set up their future.
Wyoming Area graduate Zach Lopatka is one who made sure that his time at the junior college in Scranton went exactly according to that plan.
Nearly three-quarters of the way through his two years at Lackawanna, Lopatka has already made his commitment for the next step of his academic and athletic careers, signing a National Letter of Intent earlier this month to accept a partial baseball scholarship to Youngstown State in Ohio.
“I worked real hard through both years here,” said Lopatka, who led Wyoming Area to a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 championship as a senior in 2015. “And, then coach (Bruce) Thompson getting schools and other people to come look at us and having scout day and doing all those things to get us exposure, that helps a lot, too.”
Lopatka was one of eight Lackawanna players to sign with four-year schools Nov. 10. He had made a verbal commitment to Youngstown, the only National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I school to which he made an official visit, a few days earlier.
Coach Dan Bertolini worked the Ohio/Pennsylvania border for his first class of recruits at Youngstown, getting 12 of his 13 players from those two states with Lopatka being the only one from the eastern part of the Keystone state.
“We wanted to make sure that we attacked Ohio and western Pennsylvania as there is a great deal of talent in the area,” Bertolini said.
Lopatka was recruiting as both a corner outfielder and a pitcher, meaning he will be counted on to hit, field and pitch at Youngstown.
“There is a ton of excitement with Zach coming in as a Penguin,” Bertolini said in a story on the school’s website. “Zach is a two-way guy with junior college experience. We really like his bat and he can play any of the corner outfield spots for us.
“Left-handed pitching comes at a premium, and Zach has a good arm from the left side. Once he develops more on the pitching side, I think he could possibly be a rotation guy down the line.”
Lopatka said that Youngstown was the “best fit because it gave me a chance to play baseball at a high level while getting a great education.”
The 19-year-old from Exeter was a three-year starter and four-year varsity player while at Wyoming Area where he was a conference all-star as a senior.
In his freshman year at Lackawanna, Lopatka batted .314 with 12 doubles and four homers. He also struck out 41 in 44 2/3 innings while posting a 3.83 earned run average.
Lopatka concentrated on core and computer classes at Lackawanna. He plans on deciding on a computer-related major at Youngstown.
The Penguins went 14-38 last season, including 5-21 in the Horizon Conference.
“Their campus is really nice,” Lopatka said. “They have really nice facilities. They play at the Indians minor-league field.”
