TFA baseball's Austin Pierzynski commits to UAB

The First Academy baseball player Austin Pierzynski announced his commitment to play college ball at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, via a post on his X account. 

"I am extremely blessed and excited to announce my commitment to play Division 1 Baseball at the University of Alabama at Birmingham!" he said on the social media post. "I want to thank God, family, coaches, teammates and friends who have helped me get to this point. Go Blazers!"

The Royals' rising senior catcher — and son of former MLB pitcher A.J. Pierzynski — has been a key member of TFA baseball since his freshman season and one of the biggest reasons the Royals reached the state tournament final four. 

This past season Pierzynski took a massive leap in the batter's box, hitting for an average of .371 (33/89), drove in 25 runs, scored 29 runs and hit two homers. 

Though he's grown tremendously with his bat, where Pierzynski truly shines is behind home plate. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound backstop is an athlete with a lot of raw arm strength and who rarely makes a mistake — he's only made six errors over 485 total chances in his three seasons at TFA.

With Pierzynski and five more of the Royals' top seven hitters returning in 2024-25, under new coach Alan Kunkel, expect another big season from the group named Male Team of the Year in the inaugural edition of the Orange Observer Sports Awards.