Being the third generation of a baseball family, Aidan Sugra seemed destined to continue his baseball career next season, and Philadelphia suburban Eastern University was the apparent destination.

Well, the destination didn’t change for Sugra, but the sport did.

After his stellar baseball career at Northampton, Sugra will begin a golf career at Eastern next year.

Over the past four years, Sugra has played a lot of golf, and his baseball visit to Eastern had an unsuspecting twist.

“We initially started looking at Eastern for baseball, but the one assistant coach is also the golf coach,” stated Northampton skipper Mick Sugra and Aidan’s father. “Aidan started sending him videos of his swing and his scores so that’s how it all came about. He initially thought he’d try both, but in January when it came time to decide, he could’ve walked on for baseball but the golf coach offered him a spot on the golf team.”

The younger Sugra, who normally shoots in the 70s being more on the lower end with a four handicap, has worked to develop his game. Due to his steadiness with the game, the thought of joining the game team wasn’t a far-fetched one.

“The (golf) coach and I talked through a connection,” said Aidan. “We talked about how I could play there.

“I play pretty often. I played a good amount from my freshmen through junior years of high school.”

This year, Sugra decided to take it to another level. He does plan to continue playing baseball this summer.

“I started taking it more seriously and got better,” said Sugra about his golfing this year. “I’ve played it for fun over the years at high school, but I developed enough to play at a college level.

“I do play with my dad sometimes.”

The older Sugra, who plays golf and shoots in the same range, wasn’t surprised that his son decided to change sports.

“I realized he was pretty good a couple years ago when he started consistently beating me. I consider myself a pretty good golfer, maybe not as good as I was when I played in high school and in college, but still half decent.

“Some guys can play golf their whole life and still not be a good golfer, he just picked it up really quick and still continues to improve. He’s getting fitted for his first set of irons tailored to his swing speed and he’s hitting some crazy numbers.”

Yet, Sugra plans to play Legion baseball this summer. He played this past high school season with a .364 average, third on the team. His OBP of .511 was second, and .485 slugging was third.

Sugra had 22 RBIs and scored 31 runs, both second on the team. His 23 stolen bases this season set a new season record. He hit .283 last season and had a .481 clip his sophomore and JV season.

“I am playing Legion baseball, but I will be playing a lot of golf this summer because I still think I can improve before college,” said Aidan. “I will definitely stay involved with baseball through summer leagues and men’s leagues. It’s something I could never give up.”

His father likes his son’s chances ahead on the links. In addition, the younger Sugra was a member of Northampton’s soccer team.

“He still has a long way to go in competitive golf, but he definitely has a lot of the tools to be a really good golfer,” said Sugra. “We’ll be playing a lot of golf this summer to keep getting ready for the competitive part of it, since he didn’t play in high school because golf was during soccer season.

“Eastern has 55 kids on its baseball roster. He took a couple of weeks to make a decision, but he ultimately chose to play golf. I think it is the right decision for him.”