Pathfinders

Learning on Makeshift Diamonds

He wanted to show “a British boy can succeed in baseball.”

By Tomas Weber

n the home city of soccer, cricket, and tennis, pitching a baseball is an esoteric skill — a little like calligraphy or lockpicking.

That didn’t stop Matteo Sollecito ’23, who learned to fire a pitch on makeshift diamonds in muddy London parks in a country where the sport is all but invisible.

Action shot of Matteo Sollecito '23 pitching a baseball game.

courtesy of matteo sollecito ’23

“I wanted to prove myself,” says Matteo Sollecito ’23, whose American father introduced him to baseball. “I wanted to show that a British boy can succeed in baseball in the U.S.” And while the award recognized his achievement for Great Britain, he credits Swarthmore with making it possible.

The skills he nurtured there — and later honed at Swarthmore, where he was playing when the Garnet won the 2022 Centennial Conference tournament — have now earned him national recognition in the U.S.

“I was named captain my senior year, which was an honor for some of those achievements and work I put in that 2022 year,” he says.

In 2025, Sollecito won the Laureate Award, given by the nationwide engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi to students who exemplify a “spirit of liberal culture” and excel beyond academics. For Sollecito, the distinction stemmed from representing Great Britain at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

“I wanted to prove myself,” says Sollecito, whose American father introduced him to the sport in the U.K. “I wanted to show that a British boy can succeed in baseball in the U.S.”

And while the award recognized his achievement for Great Britain, he credits Swarthmore with making it possible. During his junior year, the team was adjusting to post-pandemic college life. “At first, we struggled to come together as a cohesive group,” he recalls. “But as the season progressed, that all changed.”

The Garnet ended up trouncing rivals to bring home the conference championship, and the success seemed to energize their academics, too. Sollecito, who graduated with a chemistry major and an engineering minor, says the entire team made the honor roll.

“At Swarthmore, people find a tight-knit family. Those bonds make you feel you can do anything … not just for yourself, but for your community.”

—Matteo Sollecito ’23

“At Swarthmore, people find a tight-knit family,” he says. “Those bonds make you feel you can do anything, and that what you achieve matters not just for yourself, but for your community.”

Head Baseball Coach Matt Midkiff played a crucial role, especially when Sollecito learned he had been selected for the Great Britain team, where he would play alongside professionals including Harry Ford, a catcher for the Seattle Mariners.

“He said, ‘You have to go, absolutely,’” Sollecito recalls. “And the experience I had was totally unparalleled. Although Japan [won] that WBC, our placing in the final tournament rankings earned 1 million pounds from the British Olympic Committee to the BSUK (Baseball Softball UK) to further the development of the game in my home country,” he adds. “It really showed that the work and dedication I had put in to be selected to that team was not only to prove my own self worth, but actually did make a meaningful impact in my community.”

After graduation, Sollecito completed a master’s in chemical engineering at Purdue University, and joined Tau Beta Pi, a society for students in the top 20% of their class.

“I also played baseball there,” he says. Now in Houston, Sollecito is an engineer with Alfa Laval and plans to join a men’s baseball league in his new city. The award underscored just how central the sport remains to his identity.

“I’m so glad that I chose this path,” he says. “Getting recognized for it was really meaningful.”

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