Muscatelli flying high

Former Toll Gate baseball standout, valedictorian completes med school

By Alex Sponseller
Posted 7/3/18

Stefano Muscatelli has made quite a name for himself both in the classroom and on the baseball diamond. The 2009 Toll Gate valediction recently completed medical school at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he studied Orthopedics. He recently began

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Muscatelli flying high

Former Toll Gate baseball standout, valedictorian completes med school

Posted

Stefano Muscatelli has made quite a name for himself both in the classroom and on the baseball diamond.

The 2009 Toll Gate valediction recently completed medical school at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he studied Orthopedics. He recently began his residency requirement at the University of Michigan.

It has been a hectic few months for Muscatelli, who also married his college sweetheart just days after graduating from med school. Muscatelli is now entering the next chapter of his life, but also thinks back to his time in Warwick.

Not only did Muscatelli excel in the classroom at Toll Gate, but he was also an All-State catcher during his career and was recruited by St. Mary’s. Muscatelli admitted that the transition to the college game took some time, but he enjoyed the experience on the whole.

“I ended up (at St. Mary’s) because I got recruited by them and I fell in love with the school. It’s beautiful, it’s right on the water, everyone is super nice, they had a really good science program. All of those were really exciting things for me plus getting to play baseball. Sports-wise, my career average was .300 so I was happy with that, there was a big learning curve my first two years … learning how to hit off-speed pitches, how not to be too patient because they could hit the corner of the plate on a 3-0 count, it wasn’t like high school where you would get a meatball down the middle and get a base hit. It was a different environment,” said Muscatelli. “It was a ton of fun. I met a lot of my best friends there, being part of the team was a big thing for me, I loved being part of the team environment.”

Muscatelli credited some of the teachers at Toll Gate for helping him also find the best fit possible after high school.

“Being valedictorian was huge for me, being able to do what I wanted for college. It definitely helped me be looked at a little more favorably by out-of-state schools. The teachers at Toll Gate were great, I always got along well with them and had great relationships with my teachers there. They were also really useful with the application process, letters of recommendation,” said Muscatelli.

He also thanked former Toll Gate baseball coach David Hagopian for preparing him on the diamond and teaching him responsibility.

“Coach Hagopian was a really discipline-oriented coach which I appreciated. He always made sure that school came first. He always made sure we were working out, eating right, getting enough sleep,” said Muscatelli. “Not that he put baseball on the back burner but he really made sure that school came first and that we took care of ourselves which I felt was a great model to instill in high school kids.”

Muscatelli is unsure where he will ultimately end up once he completes his residency. Although it may not be back in his hometown, he will always love the area and miss the Rhode Island lifestyle.

“Coming up in Warwick, playing baseball with my friends in high school, that’s something you can never recreate. There’s something about Rhode Island that people don’t appreciate unless they live there,” said Muscatelli. “The proximity, everyone knows each other, there’s really good food that no one talks about, there’s an awesome Italian community, the beaches, there are things that people just don’t appreciate. Those things I’m always going to remember.”

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