Hersey’s Perkowitz all business on college choice

Tyler Perkowitz took a businesslike approach to his baseball recruiting visit to Miami University.

When the Hersey senior-to-be shortstop visited the Oxford, Ohio campus this weekend he was impressed by what he saw.

Off the field.

As a result, Perkowitz made a verbal commitment to accept a scholarship to play baseball — and study business — at Miami.

“I pretty much knew once I got on campus (Sunday) that I liked the feel of it and it was the place I wanted to go,” Perkowitz said. “The business building is new and it’s amazing. It’s a business building you won’t see on any other campus and that really drew me in.”

Perkowitz has the right numbers in the classroom to succeed at Miami with a 4.87 grade-point average on a 5.0 scale and a 29 ACT.

The same is true on the field after a junior year in which the leadoff man hit .301 with 5 doubles, 6 triples, 12 RBI and 36 runs scored. He walked 23 times and had only 9 strikeouts in 113 at-bats and was 20-for-23 in stolen bases.

Perkowitz said Miami, which lost last season’s Mid-American Conference championship game and finished 35-25, first saw him at the Area Code Games tryouts in late June. He said coaches also saw him in a tournament at Purdue and a summer-league game at Hersey.

He also visited Valparaiso last week and said he received a scholarship offer but had only three days to decide.

“I wanted to visit Miami first,” said Perkowitz, who also had Division I interest from Davidson. “When I arrived at Miami, I knew it was the right school for me.”

Perkowitz said Miami is looking at him primarily as a middle infielder but liked his versatility where he could possibly play third base and all three outfield spots.

“They said that I could come in and fit in right away and if I worked hard enough I could be able to play as a freshman,” Perkowitz said. “Not only did it fit school-wise but baseball-wise as well.”

Perkowitz said getting his college decision finalized happened earlier than he expected. But he’s glad it worked out with a school that was on his academic radar a year ago before the recruiting process started.

“I was never really sure if it was a reachable dream,” Perkowitz said of playing Division I baseball. “As I went on in high school, you hear people talk and tell you things, but you still don’t know.

“As time went on and it got closer and closer, I started to really think it could happen. It’s always been a dream since I was growing up.”

A dream where he didn’t lose sight of what was also really important to him.