Adams Selected As First Two-Time No. 8 Recipient to Honor Sonny Nictakis

BOSTON, Mass. – Boston College head baseball coach Mike Gambino continued the tradition he started his first year at The Heights in 2011 by selecting a current player to wear No. 8 in honor of former player Peter "Sonny" Nictakis. At the annual Baseball Night in Boston, held at Fenway Park's State Street Pavilion on Thursday night, Gambino announced that senior Johnny Adams is the first two-time recipient of the honor, donning No. 8 for the 2017 season. Adams was the first-ever junior selected a season ago.

Each season a player who has battled adversity and represents the best qualities of BC Baseball is voted by the baseball team to wear Nictakis's old number. Nictakis 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 2011, his No. 8 had not been worn since 1999.

"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. "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.

"For anyone who knows Johnny or for anyone who has just come in contact with with him, it's probably not a surprise that it was almost a unanimous team vote last year and an almost unanimous vote this year to present him with the No. 8 jersey," Gambino said. "Johnny represents Boston College baseball to the fullest and he embodies everything we look for in the player to wear No. 8. He is a hard worker, a great teammate, a leader, he's unselfish and he is committed to be being great. He did a wonderful job honoring Sonny by wearing No. 8 last year and I am sure he will do the same this season."

Nictakis's was a two-year captain who earned the 1998 Jeff Keith Athletic Leadership Award and the 1996-97 baseball team leadership award. He graduated from BC in 1999 with a double major in English and theology. In the summer of 2000, Nictakis 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.

Adams, named a co-captain for the 2016-17 season, is a career .254 hitter with a .960 fielding percentage, mostly playing shortstop at The Heights. The Walpole, Mass., native is currently tied for ninth on BC's all-time records list with 16 career sacrifice hits. He recorded a career-long, 14-game hit streak in 2016, which is tied for sixth in BC history, while his 168 assists in 2015 is third and his 163 is fourth on the single-season lists. He also turned 39 double plays in 2015, good for fourth all-time. Adams started all 57 games at shortstop for the Eagles in 2016. He was named to the 2016 Oxford All-Regional Team and earned Most Outstanding Player after going 7-for-12 with four doubles, three runs and three RBIs. He tied a career high with a 4-for-4 day in the regional championship against No. 15 Tulane, notched a team season-high three doubles, three RBIs and scored two runs as the Eagles swept the Regional. Adams led BC with 17 doubles and was second on the team with 60 hits and 80 total bases.

Adams father, Jay, was a captain in 1987 under head coach Eddie Pellagrini and it is believed that they are the first father-son duo to both be captains at Boston College.

Former BC baseball player Frank Faggiano '62 was also honored at the 2017 Baseball Night in Boston as the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. The new award is given for a lifetime of service and dedication to the Boston College baseball program. It was created for those who have already received the Eddie Pellagrini Award, which is presented to someone who gives back to the BC baseball program. The Distinguished Service Award is given to one who goes above and beyond to give back to the baseball team and is committed to the betterment of the program over a long period of time. It will be presented at the discretion of the BC baseball program.

Faggiano earned Pellagrini Award in 2007. An infielder on the Eagles' College World Series team in 1960 and 1961, he was a founder and first president of the Diamond Club and was inducted in the BC Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1993. Faggiano and his wife Trish are longstanding financial supporters of the baseball program and have dedicated much of their time to many BC baseball events and causes. They were instrumental in making Baseball Night in Boston a great tradition and lasting event.

"Since his playing days, Frank has essentially been the model for who we want Boston College baseball players to be in our program," Gambino said. "He is universally loved and respected by his teammates, coaches, alumni and staff and in the program for the type of person that he is, for his character and for his devotion to his family and BC baseball. I am not sure there has ever been someone in the history of the program who has been as universally loved and as admired as Frank. Since graduation, he is the epitome of 'making it better for those who come after us,' like Coach Pelly taught us. That is why he received the Pellagrini Award years ago and that is why we created another award – a second level of the Pellagrini Award."

No. 8 Recipients
2011 – Mike Sudol
2012 – Kyle Prohovich
2013 – Matt Paré
2014 – Tom Bourdon
2015 – Travis Ferrick
2016 – Johnny Adams
2017 – Johnny Adams

Adams Selected As First Two-Time No. 8 Recipient to Honor Sonny Nictakis

Players Mentioned

Johnny Adams

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