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Massapequa graduate among nation's elite college baseball players
Prokopowicz, a 6-0, 205 left-handed hitter, batted .416 in his rookie campaign with the Pride (15 points higher than all other freshman in NCAA Division I baseball). In addition to the Baseball America honor, the Massapequa High School product won multiple other awards in his first college season including being selected to the Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American team, second team Freshman All-America accolades by Rivals.com . He also garnered All-Ping! Baseball honors and a selection to the All-Ping! Freshmen team. The freshman third-baseman was also named Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rookie of the year and was a second team All-CAA and a CAA All-Rookie team honoree. On June 18 he was named to the 2007 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-East Region Second Team. "I never thought I would be an All-American ever," said Prokopowicz of how amazed he was to get the honor in his first year of playing college baseball. While many college students spend their summers relaxing at the beach, Prokopowicz worked hard to fine tune his game with the Vermont Mountaineers of the New England Collegiate Baseball League(NECBL), which features some of the best college players from around the country. He said the summer experience has been tremendous and will help make him an all-around better player as he heads into his second college season and pro scouts begin to take more notice of his every move. "I'm having the time of my life," he said in the midst of the NECBL season. "The competition is awesome." Despite being just a year removed from playing high school baseball in Massapequa, in Prokopowicz's first season at Hofstra he was ranked 62nd in the nation in the toughest to strike out and 57th in the nation in hit by pitch to go along with his high batting average rank. Prokopowicz was second in the CAA in batting and third in on-base percentage at .491. The Mas- sapequa native led Hofstra in hits (82), RBI (52), home runs (6) and total bases (113). He hit safely in 47 of his 54 games played, had 24 multi-hit games and, at one point during the season, had a 17-game hitting streak. Hofstra head coach Chris Dotolo describes Prokopowicz as someone with great passion for the game of baseball with an oldschool attitude when it comes to approaching the game. "He's a throwback ballplayer from the 50's" said Coach Dotolo. "He lives and breathes baseball." Following a four-year career at Massapequa High School in which he batted .500 with 19 home runs and 102 runs and a state title his senior season, Prokopowicz was a sought-after player garnering interest from top college programs like St. John's and Auburn. However the All- New York State and All-Nassau County honoree decided on Hofstra and head coach Chris Dotolo hopes this will start a trend of more top Long Island players like Prokopowicz deciding to play for the Pride and help to build up the program. "I think he's the type of guy that can open the door to other players," said Dotolo. Even with dreams of playing professional baseball Prokopowicz is focused on getting better and stronger for next season and is fully concentrated on summer baseball before Hofstra begins fall practices in September. "I'm working hard to improve," he said. "I'm in the weight room everyday."
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