Completed Event: Baseball versus San Diego State on March 28, 2026 , Loss , 11, to, 12
Baseball
vs San Diego State
L 11-12
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Four best years of my life
5/25/2016 12:39:00 PM | Baseball
After a successful four-year run with the Grand Canyon baseball program, senior Paul Panaccione thanks GCU for the opportunity and the memories.
| Thank you GCU: My name is Paul Panaccione. I was born here in Peoria, Ariz. and have lived here since. In 2012, I made the best decision of my life, and that was to sign with Grand Canyon University to play baseball. I was just an Arizona kid scared to leave home, so I chose the small, private, Christian, Division II university to spend my next four years. I learned quickly that this place was more then just a small, private, Christian, Division II university. My freshman year I moved into the brand new Sedona Hall, where I would meet some of my lifelong best friends. The first day I walked into the baseball clubhouse, I could feel something special. I could feel that this place was home, and that it was going to make up who I am. I looked around at my teammates and realized that these were going to be the guys that surrounded me for the next four years. In sports, you don't get to pick your friends; your coach chooses them for you. But coach Andy Stankiewicz did a hell of a job choosing my friends. Every year the team changes, new players come in and seniors graduate, but since Day 1 I've been lucky enough to have Jaren Drummond, Brandon Smith and Jorge Perez wearing the same uniform as myself. I have created many memories and learned many things in my time as a Lope. I was a part of a team who went on a 20-game winning streak and went all the way to the NCAA Division II College World Series. I was a part of the transition of becoming a Division I university. I was a part of the program's first WAC Championship following the return to Division I. And I helped this team earn 127 wins. I learned how to hold myself and others accountable for responsibilities. I learned how to deal with adversity and how to pick myself up when things weren't going my way. I have learned how to set goals and how to be a man. But yet after countless interviews, I still haven't learned how to speak in front of a microphone. We went through many ups and downs over the four years I was here and bystanders do not understand the amount of work we put into what we do. The grind during the fall in the heat, the countless hours of work put in on our own, and being sent off to summer ball and training for two months straight. It is taxing on the mind and the body, but that is what makes winning worth it in the end. All the time I put in at Brazell Stadium is what makes it my favorite place on earth and a piece of me will forever be there. There is no place I would rather be. No feeling compares to putting on my stirrups and playing under the lights on a Friday night in front of my home crowd. I grew up more every year I spent here, and, now that my senior year is over, I can say I am not only leaving here a better player, but a better person as well. If there was one thing that I could leave behind to future GCU baseball players it would be to never take for granted the letters across your chest. It is a brotherhood and a family that nothing will ever compare to. Enjoy every second you play the game because no matter how hard it may seem or despite the failures you may be experiencing, it is still the game you fell in love with as a child. I would like to end this letter by saying that I think every child has a dream. A dream can't be spoon fed to someone or influenced by anybody. Whether a kid's dream is to be a dentist or an astronaut, it is something that you truly love and desire. And since I took my first breath my dream was to be a professional baseball player. Whether or not my baseball career came to an end on May 21, 2016 in Edinburg, Texas, or I have a professional team's name stamped across my chest in the future, I would like to thank everyone at Grand Canyon University, the coaching staff, and my teammates for creating an environment and a program that I shed literal blood, sweat, and tears for. And my family for making these four years as a Lope the best experience of my life and giving me an opportunity to make my dreams come true. That is something that I will forever be grateful for. Lopes Up! Paul Panaccione  |
Players Mentioned
LHP
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RHP
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OF
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