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Santaniello writes the headlines and makes them

Thursday, May, 15 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

Someday, J.R. Santaniello hopes to be bogged down in the mundane world of medicine.

At least the Phillips Academy senior will have memories of his glory days, those classic times at Andover, where he once was allowed the opportunity to take part in such a noble profession as sports writing.

First things first for the Kingston, N.H., resident, a three-year starter for the Big Blue who is headed to Johns Hopkins in the fall.

Saturday, Santaniello leads the Big Blue into the Central New England Prep playoffs. Phillips, now 13-2, enters as the defending champion.

"A lot of kids don't ever get the opportunity to play for a championship," said Santaniello, a lefthanded first baseman/pitcher who carries a .407 average into the weekend. "To have the chance to defend our title is just amazing, something I'll always remember."

A three-year starter, Santaniello has been a cornerstone of a Big Blue program that has gone 39-10-1 in that span.

The sweet-swinging southpaw hops off the bench hacking, with 64 career hits and counting. In addition, he is 7-2 on the mound for his career, with an earned run average of 3.08 in 72<2/3> innings.

Of course, the on-field heroics tell only a portion of the J.R. Santaniello tale. As driven as he is to lace the pitched ball, it all starts in the classroom, where he has been pushed hard since a young age.

"I've gone to private school nearly all my life," said Santaniello, who was a day student at Berwick Academy in Maine for grades 6-9 before spending the last four years at Andover.

"I came to Andover with high academic expectations, and it's been everything I expected and more."

Santaniello doesn't consider himself a prodigy. In fact, he's most proud of his work ethic.

"Andover is so very competitive," said Santaniello, who scored a 2,030 on the three-pronged SAT. "There are people here that are a lot smarter, a lot brighter. I've used them to push me."

He grew from the ranks of cub reporter to sports editor with the school newspaper, The Phillipian.

That experience paid huge dividends.

"I absolutely loved it, and I know my writing is improved because of it," said Santaniello, who earned a varsity letter as a soccer goalie as a freshman but gave up the sport. "It took my mind off of academics. And I learned there's a lot more than meets the eye when you pick up a newspaper in the morning."

All the bylines and the column space didn't take the kid out of Santaniello, though.

"I have to admit, when baseball comes around, I still find myself looking for my name or picture in the paper," he said.

Santaniello's opportunities for glory are running out at Phillips, who after the playoffs will close out the year with the traditional finale with rival Exeter.

After that, it's the rigors of Johns Hopkins, where he'll study one of the sciences on a pre-med track, trying to maintain top-notch averages | both batting and grade-point.

"It's just another challenge for me, balancing baseball and the books," said Santaniello, who drew recruiting interest from the likes of Harvard and Virginia Tech before falling in love with Johns Hopkins on a visit last summer.