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Buffalo Senior's Odyssey Comes Full Circle

Carl Aquila

Yet there’s something very different about Aquila’s story, namely how far his baseball career took him before returning to the suburbs of Buffalo that he’s always called home. After playing in south Amherst at Erie Community College, he packed up his bat for NAIA school Bellevue University in Nebraska.

“He’s a joy to coach,” head coach Bill Breene said. “He listens. He works hard and he’d be a great addition to anybody’s team.”

He has proven especially valuable for the Bulls, though, as the 6-4, 210-pound senior has given the Bulls some desperately needed leadership in an outfield that lost three starters last season, making just two errors in 84 chances. Offensively, he has continued to produce, as his .295 average is second on the team while he also ranks in the team’s top five in hits, runs, doubles and triples and has struck out just 12 times in 139 at bats.

It would have been hard to predict the circuitous career that Aquila has taken to get to Amherst four years ago when he joined Erie Community College’s baseball program, a team that featured future Division I players Matt Larson (Canandaigua, NY/Pomona) (UB), B.J. Stack and Ron Hooper (Canisius). Playing for the Kats, his first season proved to be one of the best in the school’s history, as the team made it to the NJCAA Division III World Series at Dwyer Stadium in Batavia.

Aquila performed well at the tournament, hitting .454 with a double and three RBIs as he was named to the All-Tournament Team, capping off a season in which he hit .333 (48-for-144) with 15 doubles and 34 RBIs.

“It was awesome just to be able to make it to the World Series,” he said. “It was a cool atmosphere, just the respect you got for being there and playing against the best kids in the country.”

Carl Aquila

His second season with the Kats was much the same, as he hit .338 (48-for-142) for coach Joe Booth, adding 13 doubles and 31 RBIs to finish his career with 96 hits in an ECC uniform while the team went 67-24 during his two seasons.

“He was somebody that we were interested in recruiting out of Erie Community College two years ago,” Breene said. “He decided to go out west, but we would’ve liked to have had him. We thought he’s a good player. I think he’s a fine defensive outfielder and he’s got a great arm.”

Going into his junior year, Aquila made the decision to transfer to Bellevue, which has a strong baseball history that includes a 1995 NAIA Championship. Sure enough, the team had a season a storied program expected to have, winning 54 games, earning three All-American honors and falling just one win shy of the NAIA World Series.

Aquila was a large part of that success when the season started in right field, but a broken wrist halfway through the season cost him his starting job. He still managed to appear in 44 games and get 63 at bats, hitting a steady .302 (19-for-63) with five doubles and 11 RBIs, but all-conference outfielders J.P. Lapointe, Blake Busson and Brian Boyer kept him from returning to the starting lineup.

At the end of the year, Aquila wanted to return to Western New York and the University at Buffalo to get the chance to start again.

“I called the coaches at Buffalo and asked if there was an opportunity to play here,” Aquila said. There was.

He made an immediate impact on the Bulls, going 3-for-8 in the season-opening doubleheader at Appalachian State, scoring the game-winning run in the eighth inning of the second game.
Through his first 11 games, he led the team with a .342 average, but once again an injury slowed him slightly, as he collided midair with freshman James Piazza (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville North) during a game with Southern Miss in March, forcing him from the lineup for two games.

His return to the lineup was quick, even though he says the shoulder is still stiff, and though his bat has cooled a little, his average hasn’t dropped below .280 and he has moved into the third slot in the lineup, moving into the team’s top four in runs with 23.

“He’s been contributing offensively all year long,” Breene said. “He’s probably been one of our most consistent hitters throughout the year.”

Even though the team hasn’t had the same amount of success as the teams that he played for in his first three years, Aquila said he has no regrets about his decision to move back home for his final year of college baseball.

“The guys here are great,” Aquila said of his new team. “The coaches are great guys. We just have fun and everyone works hard.”