College Baseball Dream For Darnell Met With Stonehill

DEDHAM, Ma. - The desire to play at the next level has been met and Dagen Darnell is thrilled about it.

“My dream has always been to play Division I college baseball,” the 39th-rated 2023 right-handed pitcher from New England said. “It started to become a reality once I transferred to Noble last year. Coach (Rob) Murray gave out a spreadsheet of all the schools and it all played out from there.”

Stonehill College turned out to be the school of choice for the Noble & Greenough senior.

“My high school coach had connections and told them to come to see me pitch during my high school season,” Darnell related. “I didn’t see him there, but (new pitching) coach (Zack) Sultar was there and (head) coach (Pat) Boen was there, too. Once the season was over and summer picked up, coach Sultar texted me a lot about my outings.”

Before summer was a month over, an offer was presented to Darnell.

“I waited to see what other options were out there and was waiting to finish my summer season,” explained Darnell, who also had interest from UMass-Amherst.

In the end, the private catholic college in Easton, Ma., proved to be the perfect fit for the 18-year-old.

“One thing I liked was the location,” Darnell noted. “I didn’t want to go too far from home and it’s only 35 or 40 minutes away. I also didn’t want a huge campus with a ton of people. It’s a smaller campus and I like that and it’s also in the middle of nowhere. The facilities and the weight room were nice and they’re redoing the baseball field. The whole campus was right for me.”

The 6-1 195-pounder, who also plays outfield for his high school team, brings plenty to the table for the college that will be joining the Northeast Conference.

“They say I’m athletic, I also play basketball and football,” the 61st-ranked senior in Massachusetts related. “They wanted more pitchers and my academics are good. My high school coach told them I’m very coachable and a great teammate.”

In addition to coach Murray at Noble & Greenough, Darnell received additional aid during the recruiting process.

“PBR came to some of our tournaments and I went to the winter Procase that helped a bit,” Darnell said. “I also used the twitter platform a lot.

“My parents have also been big in all of this,” Darnell continued. “They’ve done everything they could do to help get me to this point. Coach Murray was definitely the first guy to help in this, but the Rednecks who I played with this summer also helped.”

In making a college commitment, the 108th-rated 2023 in New England was admittedly excited.

“Honestly, it was super relieving,” Darnell said. “The recruiting process is one of the most stressful things you can do as an athlete and my family and friends were extremely happy for me along with all of my coaches. They all knew it was my dream and what I’ve been working toward.”

Improvement helped the cause in becoming a D-I commit.

“My velo went up a bit by getting stronger, that was one of the main things,” Darnell pointed out. “It went up to 87-88, that’s one thing that really helped. I can also hit spots to perfection.”

Sport management is being considered as a possible major for the 20th-ranked 2023 right-handed pitcher in Massachusetts, who carries a 3.4 GPA in high school.

“I’m looking forward to traveling, the team lifts, the team dinners and having fun talking to the boys and hanging out,” Darnell said about what he is anticipating when it comes to college.

The belief is that an impact can also be made in a baseball program at Stonehill College that will be competing in the Northeast Conference for the first time this upcoming school year and become a full member of the NEC in 2026-27.

“I’ve been a younger kid on most of my teams, playing up so I’ve not been a captain,” Darnell said. “But I lead by voice and actions, working on helping everyone get better. Off the field I’m ready to build relationships and relationships are what matter in the end with the brotherhood with all the players and coaches. I already have that with coach Boen and coach Sultar”