By Devin Dougherty
Sport Media and Public Relations Class
Nick Lustrino played his first collegiate baseball game at Old Dominion, but not for the team you would expect. “I remember arriving on campus and at the field and thinking about how great it must be to go there and be able to play there,” explained Lustrino. “If someone told me as a freshman that I was going to be playing here a few years later, I would have said you’re crazy.” Lustrino took a strange and unlikely journey to ODU, but his experience has changed his perspective of baseball in a positive way.
On December 6, 2013, Temple’s Athletic Director gathered seven teams, including Lustrino and his baseball teammates, in the new indoor football facility for an emergency meeting. “Due to budget cuts the following teams will be cut,” stated the Athletic Director. Baseball was the first team announced. Immediately the room was filled with tears and confusion from the seven teams. “I went into shock. I couldn’t believe this was happening,” said Lustrino. “I felt a mix of sadness and anger, along with a sense of fear of the future and what could come next.”
Now that the damage was done, it was time to try to find a way to play baseball again. But first, Lustrino had to learn how to accept the University’s decision and put his experience into perspective, “The experience impacted me in two ways. It was a humbling experience, because it put the game in perspective that it is still just a game. Just when you think you have the game figured out, it throws you for a loop and puts you back in your place. I was team captain as a junior, starting shortstop, had a ton of friends, and was performing well in my classes. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, it was stripped from me,” exclaimed Lustrino.
Through it all, Lustrino was still motivated to achieve his dream of continuing to play baseball at a high level. “I knew it was what I wanted to do and I wouldn’t be able to handle not playing,” said Lustrino.
A few days after Temple’s baseball program was cut ODU coach Karl Nonemaker contacted Lustrino. Flashbacks of Lustrino’s first collegiate game came back to him. Lustrino had already had a relationship with Coach Nonemaker, who recruited Lustrino out of high school. “I was very comfortable talking to Coach Nonemaker on the phone. He didn’t even bring up the thought of transferring for a while, because he knew how difficult of an experience I was going through, which I really respected,” Lustrino added. Going through the recruiting process again as a junior wasn’t easy or quick, but Lustrino ultimately chose to continue his baseball career at ODU.
With the support of his parents, sisters, former coaches and friends, Lustrino arrived on ODU’s campus this past summer. His experience has already been nothing short of amazing. “The guys on the team here are incredible, and the ODU athletic family is nothing short of that either,” Lustrino exclaimed. “The common theme seems to be that everyone here is looking out for your best interest and that provides for a great environment to be in, both athletically and academically.”
This year when Lustrino plays at Old Dominion University’s Bud Metheny Field, he will be representing a different Univeristy on the front of his jersey than that of his freshman year. “It was a strange journey and situation to say the least, but I have to admit that it worked out better than I could have ever imagined and I’m very thankful to have been give the opportunity to be a student-athlete at ODU,” Lustrino concluded.
“Sport Management students in Brendan O’Hallarn’s Sport Media and Public Relations class came up with ODU Athletics feature story ideas, then reported and wrote these pieces for a class assignment. The assignment was created to provide feature content for the ODUSports website, and offer students the real-world learning experience of writing a story for the ODUSports website.”