Prohovich Selected to Honor Sonny Nictakis with No. 8
January 19, 2012 | Baseball
Jan. 19, 2012
Boston, Mass. - Boston College head baseball coach Mike Gambino continues a tradition he started last year at The Heights by selecting a current player to wear No. 8 in honor of former player Peter "Sonny" Nictakis. Each season, a player who has battled adversity and represents the best qualities of BC Baseball will wear Sonny's old number.
Gambino announced that senior captain Kyle Prohovich will don No. 8 for the 2012 season. He made the announcement at Baseball Night, held at Fenway Park's State Street Pavillion on Thursday night.
Sonny was a two-time captain for the Eagles in 1998-99 and lost his courageous battle with Hodgkin's disease in the summer of 2000. Until last season, his No. 8 had not been worn since 1999. In 2011, Gambino tabbed senior outfielder Mike Sudol to be the first to wear the number.
"Bringing Sonny's No. 8 back is something that is very important to me and one of the first things I wanted to do as head coach," Gambino said at last year's Baseball Night. "Wearing his number will be the biggest honor a player can receive in our program. It will be given to one player each year - the one that best shows the qualities that made Sonny such a great teammate, great leader and great friend.
"When we think about what we want in this program and the type of kids we want to represent BC baseball, Sonny was the embodiment of all those qualities: hard worker, great teammate, leader, unselfish, committed to being great at everything he did," Gamnbino added. "He handled adversity, never complained and held himself and everyone around him to an incredibly high standard. Sonny didn't care whether or not anyone liked him. He had true confidence in himself because of the morals and values instilled in him by his family and he had the integrity to always do the right thing. And that's part of why everyone loved him."
Sonny's two-year captaincy proved what a leader he was. He earned the 1998 Jeff Keith Athletic Leadership Award and the 1996-97 baseball team leadership award. Sonny also served as the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. He graduated from BC in 1999 with a double major in English and theology. After graduation, he took a job with the Boston Red Sox. In the summer of 2000, Sonny lost his courageous seven-and-a-half year battle with Hodgkin's disease.
His spirit lives on in the BC baseball community with the Sonny Nictakis Fall World Series that is played every year.
Prohovich has become the Eagles' go-to guy out of the bullpen. He appeared in 24 games last season with a 3.46 ERA. He was third on the team in appearances and strikeouts (34) and recorded three wins. He also allowed 15 earned runs on 34 hits in 39.0 innings of work. Some of his 2011 highlights included allowing only two hits in a career-high 4.0 innings against Virginia to record the extra-innings win and striking out five in 3.2 innings and allowing two hits at Duke to earn the win. He allowed only four runs in 12 appearances from March 6 to April 10, a total of 15.1 innings. Prohovich made eight starts as the designed hitter, recording a .195 batting clip in 41 at bats with one home run and three RBIs. His two-run homer, the first of his career, came against SIU Edwardsville in March.
As a junior, the Weston, Mass., native appeared in nine games out of the bullpen. He also received a medical redshirt in 2009 and made two relief appearances his first year in the Maroon and Gold.
"It's a great honor to wear Sonny's number," Prohovich said. "Last year, Mike Sudol had the honor of wearing it and I want to live up to the standard he set. Personally, this means a lot to me and I want to wear it well. Hopefully, this season I can really do No. 8 justice."
"Kyle is a kid who has battled through some injuries during his career that, for some players, could have affected the way they work and go about their business on a daily basis," Gambino said. "For two years I've watched how hard he works and how driven he is to be great at everything he does. He is a fierce competitor who takes his preparation very seriously, but always has time to help bring a teammate along with him. He reminds me of Sonny at times the way he genuinely wants his teammates to succeed. He has turned into a great leader who has earned the utmost respect, not just from his teammates, but from the coaching staff as well. There is no doubt in my mind that Kyle will be tremendously successful at whatever he decides to set his mind to after he leaves Boston College. We are lucky to have him in our program."
