xavier baseball star commits to uconn

Drew Kron, a senior at Xavier High School, has committed to play baseball and continue his education at the University of Connecticut. 
           
Kron, who was born and raised in Hebron, recently made his commitment official, electing to continue his passion in the Nutmeg State. 
           
“As a kid I was always thinking I wanted to leave Connecticut and go as far away as possible, but as I got older and more schools started talking to me I thought playing in Connecticut wouldn’t be so bad. I wanted the hometown feeling and that feeling of representing the state,” said Kron, who plans to major in finance at UConn.  
           
Kron added that his decision came down to the Huskies coaching staff, led by longtime head coach Jim Penders, who will be entering his 19th season at Storrs, and is the all-time winningest coach in the program history with 606 wins.  
           
“Coach Penders and the whole coaching staff were very knowledgeable, very personable guys,” said Kron, who originally made a verbal commitment to the university in the summer of 2020. “When I committed they were building the brand new baseball facility and now it’s done. It’s absolutely beautiful and one of a kind.”
           
Staying in the Northeast and getting an experience similar to the Power Five Conference schools was important for Kron, who comes from an athletically gifted family.  
           
His older sisters where both outstanding athletes at RHAM High School. Hanna Kron, a 2017-graduate, was level-5 cheerleader and Gretchen Kron, a 2018-graduate, was a three-time All-State soccer player in high school. Gretchen is currently a senior at Quinnipiac University where she is a four-year member of the Bobcats soccer team.  
           
Along with being a stud baseball player at Xavier, Kron was the starting quarterback for the Falcons football team since he was a sophomore.   
           
Because of COVID, he lost his sophomore season on the diamond and his junior season on the gridiron. Kron used the hardship as motivation and responded with an All-State baseball season as a junior and an All-Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) selection following his senior season this fall in football. 
           
“You take less stuff for granted once things are taken away from you. You realize how much it means to you as a person,” Kron said of the cancellations. “Getting baseball canceled was definitely tough but it allowed me to get stronger and work on my craft and I was able to play baseball during the summer. Then football got canceled and honestly that was the tougher one because it was back-to-back seasons and it was over a year of not playing a competitively in high school.” 
           
Kron, who is also the Senior Class President at Xavier, is looking forward to one more season with his high school teammates this spring. He said the team is motivated by the first-round exit against Shelton from a season ago in the opening round of the 2021 Class LL tournament.
           
The accomplished outfielder will lead a strong set of bats and high-profile pitcher Tyler Hartley will be the team’s ace on the mound. The Falcons are aiming to make up for the last three years, which featured a pair of early exits and the canceled season.  
           
“My freshman year we lost on a walk-off against Newington and last year we were winning the whole game until we blew the lead in the last couple innings. It was tough for the team but we are going to bounce back from it,” he said. 
           
Baseball has become a nearly year round gig for Kron, who previously played in the summer for the Connecticut Rivals and spent last summer playing with the Connecticut Arrows in the Connecticut Collegiate Baseball League (CCBL).  
           
The extensive baseball has prepared him for his next stop at Storrs, playing collegiately in the Big East Conference. 
           
​Along with the competition of Division I baseball, Kron said he’s also excited about the life on the road, adding “It’s pretty exciting seeing the strength of schedule that UConn has. That’s the coolest part, being able to see different parts of the country and playing at different universities.”