Seton LaSalle product Nico Popa looking forward to extra season with Pitt baseball

Nico Popa aspires to play professional baseball.

The Seton LaSalle graduate and standout right fielder for Pitt hopes an extra year with the Panthers will have multiple benefits, including bolstering his draft stock.

Popa, who graduated in May with a degree in marketing, is one of three Panthers — Chris Gomez and David Yanni are the others — who will take advantage a late-March ruling by the NCAA. It grants seniors who played spring sports an extra year of eligibility after those seasons were canceled mid-stream because of covid-19 safety concerns.

“I am excited to be able to come back and play another year,” said Popa, a four-year starter. “Hopefully, we are able to play and everything works out. We’ll see how things go from there.”

When the season ended, Popa said everyone on the team was in shock.

“There were so many questions right away with eligibility for another season and the (MLB) draft,” he said.

“There were also so many questions with Major League Baseball. Once we heard the NCAA was giving everyone an eligibility year back, I knew I had that opportunity in my back pocket. But I was still hoping I would get the chance at professional baseball. But with the shortening of the draft (to five rounds) and all the uncertainty with the minor leagues, I realized going pro wasn’t happening (this summer).”

After getting the eligibility news, the next step was determining, through discussions with coaches and academic advisers, how a return to the Panthers would happen.

In addition to playing during a presumptive 2021 season, Popa will pursue a certificate in managing health services programs.

“The only thing consistent right now is change,” said Pitt coach Mike Bell, who last Wednesday made the official announcement of the players’ return.

“We had to look at the landscape moving forward along with Nico, Chris and David and help them make what they felt was the best decision. We knew there was a chance for them to come back, but we were going to be happy for them no matter what. But they all wanted to come back and finish business. They are all competitors who feel they have more to give and more to gain. It’s just a blessing to have them back.

“With continuing to play and also adding to their academic accomplishments, it makes sense for them and gives them the chance to build on who they are on and off the field.”

Popa said he sees a silver lining in that another year with the Panthers means another year in front of scouts’ eyes and a chance to improve his professional resume.

“It definitely is a positive any time you get the chance to play more,” Popa said.

Popa is excited to see what the spring 2021 season holds for the Panthers, who are expected to begin a fall workout schedule Aug. 31.

Eight position starters and the entire weekend pitching rotation return. A group of newcomers is expected to add depth.

Pitt was 10-6 when the 2020 season came to a halt.

“It was upsetting that we only got to play 16 games,” Popa said. “Hopefully, we’ll get to play that full season before we have to move on.”

Popa owns a career .415 slugging percentage and a .361 on-base percentage with 45 extra base hits — 25 doubles, 10 triples and 10 home runs — and 74 RBIs.

His shortened season came on the heels of a breakout junior campaign in which he batted .353 with 15 doubles, five triples, eight homers and 39 RBIs.

He earned first-team ABCA/Rawlings All-Region recognition, the second player during Pitt’s tenure in the ACC to receive that distinction. He also was selected second-team All-ACC.

In 16 games, all starts, in 2020, Popa recorded a .275 average with 19 hits, two doubles, 16 runs and six RBIs.

“The season started a little slower than I had hoped, probably for the first couple of weeks,” Popa said. “But that happens all the time. I just kept playing and started to see the ball really well and put together good at-bats. Having the season stopped was really upsetting because I felt I was getting hot at the right time.”

As Popa began to navigate through a summer like no other, he found an opportunity with an upstart league in the Pittsburgh area.

Through the help of former Panthers teammate Connor Perry, a Detroit Tigers draft pick in 2019, and Dan Ninemire, a coach at Pitt in 2019 and the owner of the All-American Baseball Center in Trafford, Popa joined the All-American Collegiate Baseball League.

Popa and other area players with college ties played nearly three dozen games on one of four teams from the first part of June through the first week of this month.

“There was a lot of good talent from college teams from all over,” Popa said. “I had a pretty good summer. I had fun. It was a good time.”