Harvard Has The 'Perfect Mix' For Brancel

HUNTSBURG - A visit to Harvard was all it took for Dom Brancel.

“I stepped on the campus and it was special,” the Hawken senior reflected. “It did not look like others.”

The fourth-rated 2023 catcher in Ohio called it the “perfect mix” when referring to the academics and athletics of the Ivy League school.

“When you’re looking at the academic piece of it, there is no other school like Harvard,” Brancel said. “It’s the best in the country.”

Brancel also took a liking to the baseball part of the university.

“With the coaching staff, I talked to coach Stark and Decker,” Brancel said in reference to associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Bryan Stark along with head coach Bill Decker, who will enter his 11th season at the helm of Harvard with 681 career coaching wins. “I love them both. That was a huge piece of this. In talking to them, it got personal about where I stand and where they stand.”

The connection came after Harvard reached out to Rob McNerney, the director of Ohio Elite North, and said they were looking for a catcher.

“They came up to see me play in early June and we talked on the phone for a couple of months,” Brancel noted. “They saw me some more when we went to the PBR World Series in Georgia and they said they liked what I had to offer offensively and defensively. Two days later is when I went on the visit. A couple weeks went by making sure everything was right. They gave me an offer three weeks after and I took it immediately.”

Harvard found a lot about his game to like.

“I think when they saw me play they loved my ability behind the plate,” the 5-10 185-pounder pointed out. “Offensively, my approach is it’s me against the pitcher and I’m going to beat him every time. That’s my mindset and it stood out to them. But what they were looking for is mainly the defensive aspect and being able to control the game behind the plate.”

That is an area Brancel has confidence in being able to provide.

“I’ll bring someone who is going to be able to control the whole pitching staff,” Brancel said. “It’s what I’ve developed over the last few years. I’ll also contribute offensively. I’ve gotten stronger and developed a lot of pop in my bat.”

That helped propel a recruiting process that included an offer from Oakland in mid-June and talks with Columbia, Cornell and VMI along with visits to Ashland and Marietta in addition to Oakland and Harvard.

“My recruiting process started early my freshman year when I was talking to eight or nine schools,” Brancel related. “But then Covid year was tough for me. As a catcher it’s important for them to come see how you can control the game and it took eyes away from me when coaches went to the (transfer) portal.

“This year with the PBR Top Prospect Games in Cincinnati I started opening up eyes again. Since then it’s been rolling and developing.”

The commitment brought an end to a goal that began around the age of 10 according to the 37th-ranked 2023 in Ohio.

“As a kid my dream was to play MLB, but as you get older you realize college baseball is the next step and I started watching that,” Brancel related. “It’s something I really wanted to do and the goal for five years has been to play D-I college baseball.”

Admittedly, there will be challenges at a university like Harvard, which is located 81/2 hours from home.

“I feel a lot of it is controllable,” Brancel explained. “I go to Hawken and it’s a very good academic school, so maybe I’ll be more prepared than others. Really, to me there’s nothing different between baseball and the classroom, you just have to push yourself to get better every day.”

The plan is to major in some form of biology, according to Brancel, who carries a 3.75 GPA at Hawken.

“It was an incredible feeling to commit to Harvard,” concluded Brancel, who just turned 18 on Sept. 4. “After our visit I talked to my family on the car ride home and told them I really want to go there. To hear coach Decker give me an offer is something I’ll always remember.”

The hope now is that more memories are ahead.

“I’m looking forward to competing the most,” Brancel said about what he is anticipating the most about his playing days at Harvard. “D-I baseball is a whole ’nother level of competition. I want to go there and help them win.”