Jacob McGovern has come a long way since graduating from Hopewell High School in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, right outside of Pittsburgh. The left-handed pitcher decided to head to the sunny state of Florida to play junior college baseball for Gulf Coast State College in Panama City. While he said his recruiting process out of high school “wasn't anything exciting,” he wanted to work on his game in the hopes of playing at a Division I school one day. 

While playing at Gulf Coast State College, a junior college, he, unfortunately, had Tommy John surgery his first year, so ultimately had to red shirt. In his second year, he came back and pitched after his recovery. In his last year, he decided to transfer to Palm Beach State College in West Palm Beach, where he was the starter, finishing up his sophomore year. He pitched 55.2 innings with 51 strikeouts, averaging 8.25 strikeouts per game. 

McGovern has played in the South Florida Collegiate Baseball League for two years and is on the Boca Raton VSA Lions. He enjoys playing in this league because everyone takes it very seriously, and if you don’t, “you won’t do good and you won’t get better.” He also says, “There are some big dawgs in this league but you gotta show them who the real dawg is and the Lions got a bunch of them.” 

That hard work and dedication are now paying off as he is heading to the University of Dayton to pitch for the Flyers next year! He said he trained hard to get to where he is today and had the mentality that he can take his baseball career farther. He said, “It wasn’t about getting that offer, I was just sticking to what I know and letting God do the rest.”