Every young athlete dreams of making it to the big leagues one day.
Being offered a professional contract out of high school would be enough to sway many young athletes to forgo their educations for America’s favorite pastime.
Not the Nola brothers.
Senior Tiger shortstop Austin Nola and his brother, incoming freshman pitcher Aaron Nola, both had that opportunity, and both passed on it, choosing to continue their educations.
“It was going to take a lot of money for me to get away from LSU,” Aaron Nola said. “For me, I wasn’t stressing about it at all. I think we made the right decisions for both of LSU.”
The Tigers saw several freshman pitchers take the mound last season, and Mainieri made no indications that next year will be any different.
“Aaron is going to help us without a doubt right away as a freshman,” Mainieri said. “He’s a strike throwing machine, he’s got a great arm, he’s got a super secondary pitch in his changeup and his breaking ball is developing. When we go out there this fall everybody will be competing for roles … and I’m sure Aaron Nola will have some sort of team.”
Austin was a vital part of the Tigers’ 2009 National Championship run through Omaha and also received Second-Team All-SEC accolades in 2010 while being named the SEC Tournament MVP.
But Mainieri said his off-the-field contributions make him the special player that he is.
“Austin Nola is like our poster child for our program,” the five-year coach said. “Not only because he’s a great ball player, but because the seriousness for which he gives his education and he works hard in school, as well as his community service record. He does more community service than anyone on our team, and that’s a vital part of being a ball player