{"id":13611,"date":"2026-06-09T08:41:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13611"},"modified":"2026-06-15T07:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:26:00","slug":"13611","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13611","title":{"rendered":"How I Got Here Jack O\u2019Donnell \u201926"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t remember the first time I played baseball; it\u2019s just always been a part of my life. Playing with friends and family is a staple where I grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n

I realized in elementary school that I was halfway decent at baseball and I decided to put in the extra work. I fell in love with the process of always improving and getting better.<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing high school baseball at Saint Peter\u2019s Prep in Jersey City really prepared me for the grind of playing college baseball. There were no \u201cgimme\u201d wins on our schedule; every game we played required mental and physical preparation to win.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been an academically driven student, and I didn\u2019t want to give that up to play college baseball. At TCNJ, I could do both.<\/span><\/p>\n

I grew up playing the infield, but TCNJ had a surplus of talented infielders, so I switched to playing the outfield for the Lions. I didn\u2019t mind the switch \u2014 I was just happy to play.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being in the outfield, there\u2019s nothing more exciting than when a runner tries to take an extra base and I get the opportunity to throw him out. I think I have a pretty solid arm, and I like putting it to the test.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Baseball
Jack O’Donnell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My favorite memory at TCNJ was when we won the NJAC <\/span>championship my freshman year. I didn\u2019t start much that season, but that win was the most exhilarating feeling. Playing on a team with people who are as passionate as I am has challenged me. We have fun when we win and it hurts when we lose because we all care so much about the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019ve been blown away by how great the TCNJ coaches have been. They have suggested mechanical adjustments that have made me a better player. But what has been most helpful are their motivational words.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former head coach Godri always had simple advice for us: \u201cgood thoughts.\u201d If I was having a bad at-bat, I\u2019d just think good thoughts. Coach Collazo was new this year, but encouraged us to \u201cjust do what you can.\u201d Don\u2019t overdo it or try to be someone you aren\u2019t. Those are the pieces of advice I\u2019ll take with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I prepare to join EY this summer and begin a career in auditing, I\u2019m most proud of the friends that I\u2019ve made here and the relationships I have formed. The lessons I learned from being on this team will always stick with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Peter Murphy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This outfielder caught the baseball bug early and has used lessons from the game throughout life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":356,"featured_media":13640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lions-roar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/356"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13611"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13674,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13611\/revisions\/13674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}