Thursday, July 10, 2025
What began as a preschool friendship on a quiet block in Rockville Centre has grown into a shared path to Division I baseball and business school, as Collin Anderson and Daniel Nawrocki prepare to attend Bucknell University together this fall.
The two friends have known each other since they were three years old, Nawrocki said. They attended nursery school together at United Church, then went through Hewitt Elementary School and South Side Middle School, and finally ending up graduating this month from Chaminade High School.
Their friendship was forged through years of shared memories, including hanging out in the neighborhood with their friends and older brothers.
“All the kids in our neighborhood are similar ages,” Nawrocki said. “There are a lot of families that live around us that we would always hang out with.”
One of the activities that bonded them was baseball at Chaminade. Though they shared many sports growing up — including soccer and basketball — baseball wasn’t originally one of them. That changed in high school, where the two played all four years of baseball together at Chaminade, including two years on the varsity team.
Anderson had such a good senior baseball season at Chaminade that he was named the Offensive Player of the Year by the Nassau Suffolk Catholic High School Athletic Association, solidifying his place as one of the top high school players in the region.
He posted a .519 batting average, a .600 on-base percentage and a .870 slugging percentage. He recorded 40 hits, 17 RBIs and scored 36 runs. His extra-base hit total included two home runs, seven triples and seven doubles. He also showcased his speed on the bases, stealing 27 bases over the course of the season.
“Obviously you’re hoping to have a great year, but I definitely didn’t expect to do what I did just coming off last year where the team was a little shaky,” Anderson said. “I think it was like halfway through the year where I kind of realized I have a chance to have a really special year. And I just kept playing well, kept my teammates up, kept being positive, and it worked out pretty well.”
Nawrocki also had a solid season, hitting .256 and a .421 on-base percentage. He drove in eight runs, scored 12, and showed flashes of power with two home runs and a .465 slugging percentage. He also recorded eight stolen bases, showcasing his versatility on the field.
The sport that bonded Anderson and Nawrocki through high school will also keep them connected in college. Remarkably, they both ended up committing to the same school, Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, completely by chance.
Nawrocki committed first, after being scouted at a summer tournament.
“I wound up committing a few weeks later,” he said. “Then I remember kids coming up to me on the team telling me that Collin was getting looked at by Bucknell.”
Anderson, who had been interested in the same school, kept his hopes to himself. “I didn’t want to jinx myself,” he said. “I kind of kept it quiet until everything started to happen.”
He ended up committing on the eve of his birthday in December.
“I posted everything on my birthday,” he said. “And then I told Danny, I think a couple days before that, that it was looking good and I was going to go there.”
The move to Bucknell marks a new chapter for the Rockville Centre duo, whose bond was shaped by the fields, classrooms, and streets of their hometown. They will be roomates in their freshman year and are both enrolled in the business school, and while they haven’t declared majors yet, both are optimistic about the future.
“It’s going to be amazing, and I can’t wait for the next four years,” Nawrocki said. “It’s also nice to go into college having someone that you’ve known for however many years me and Collin have known each other, so it’s going to be pretty special.”
“Even as long as me and Daniel have known each other, we have our own sets of friends,” Collin added. “We still have stuff that we’re going to find out about each other and stuff we’re going to know more about each other by the end of the four years.”
