The 2002 Stonehill graduate, who set the school record with 282 hits and 48 home runs, was the program's first All-America player.

BY Jim Fenton
The Brockton Enterprise

Junior Medina arrived at Stonehill College in 1998 ready to play football in the fall and baseball in the spring.

Just a few games into his football career, though, Medina suffered an ankle injury as a freshman and decided to concentrate on just baseball.

With all his focus on that one sport, Medina flourished and developed into the first All-America baseball player at Stonehill during a sensational career that ended in 2002.

Medina was recently selected for induction into the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame, becoming the ninth athlete at Stonehill to be chosen. He will be honored during a ceremony on campus at a time to be determined.

The outfielder made the All-America first team as a senior when he was also both the NE-10 and the Northeast Region player of the year in addition to making the All-New England team.

Medina set school records with 282 hits, 48 home runs and 220 runs scored in 195 career games. He is second at Stonehill with 203 RBI and 58 doubles and is sixth with a .383 batting average.

"I think what stood out to me was his determination, how he really wanted to be the best player and how he really worked at it,″ said coach Patrick Boen. "He was obviously a skilled player, but he really wanted to be the best.

"I tell my current players my story with him is that he would carry a (hitting) tee with him to class. He'd have an extra hour in between classes and he'd bring his tee with him and go hit.

"You just don't have kids who do that. He was determined and hard working and wanted to do whatever he could to continue to get better.″ 

Medina led the NE-10 with a school-record 19 homers in his senior year and was second nationally in Division 2.

Stonehill won the NE-10 regular-season title twice during Medina's career and went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history when he was a sophomore in 2000, advancing to the Northeast Regional championship round.

A four-time all-conference selection, Medina was on the first team three times and took part in the college baseball home run derby at the Division 1 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, as a senior.

"He was playing football, too, when he got here, but then he got hurt and put all his efforts and energy to become a better baseball player,″ said Boen. "When he got here, I didn't think he'd become the best player in the Northeast-10, but I felt he was going to be a really good player for us. Maybe not at this level, but his hard work pushed him to that level.″

Medina is in the process of becoming a police officer in Westport. After graduating from Stonehill, he played for the Brockton Rox.

The other Stonehill athletes in the NE-10 Hall of Fame are Erin Acone and Katie Lambert (women's lacrosse), Jon Cronin and Bobby Reitz (men's basketball), Michelle Doonan of Brockton, Sue Patchett and Mary Naughton (women's basketball) and Nancy Smith (women's basketball, soccer and softball).

Tom Folliard, the school's former men's basketball coach and athletic director, and former women's basketball coach and athletic director Paula Sullivan, are also inducted along with the 2003 and 2005 women's lacrosse teams that won national titles.