Tamaqua’s Ligenza signs to play baseball at Pittsburgh

Tamaqua senior Mason Ligenza, front row, second from right, signs an NCAA Division I letter of intent to play baseball at the University of Pittsburgh during a ceremony Thursday afternoon in the high school library. Participating in the ceremony are, front row, from left: Lauren Ligenza, sister, Joe Ligenza, father; Mason, Adrienne Ligenza, mother; back row, Tamaqua athletic director Mike Hromyak, baseball coach Jeff Reading and high school principal Tom McCabe (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

TAMAQUA — Mason Ligenza comes from a basketball family.

A summer trip to Georgia in 2023 made the 6-foot-5 Tamaqua senior realize that baseball was the sport he should focus on.

Two summers of stellar play on the travel circuit and a monster junior season at Tamaqua led to Thursday afternoon, when Ligenza signed an NCAA Division I letter of intent to play baseball at the University of Pittsburgh during a ceremony in the high school library.

A pitcher/outfielder, Ligenza hit .493 last season and went 6-2 with a 0.96 ERA on the mound as Tamaqua went 15-8 and won the Schuylkill League championship.

“When I was little, baseball wasn’t always my big thing,” Ligenza said. “I just played it because I was a kid and I wanted to have fun. When I got older, into the middle school, I wanted to play varsity baseball.

“Then it was I want to play college baseball. Looking up to people I admired, then it was I wanted to play Division I baseball. The dreams just kept getting bigger and bigger at that point.

“Last summer, summer before that, that’s when I started taking everything serious. All of the events I’ve played during the summer have gotten me to this point. Two summers ago, that’s when I realized that if I put the time in, I could get to this spot.”

Ligenza put himself on the recruiting map in the summer of 2023 when he shined in Perfect Game tournaments in Georgia and Florida with Baseball U.

When the active recruiting period opened later that summer, Ligenza said he received 7-8 phone calls from college coaches. It came down to Delaware and Pittsburgh, with an official visit to Pittsburgh swaying things in the Panthers’ favor.

He verbally committed to play at Pittsburgh last December.

“When I was on a visit there, I loved it there,” Ligenza said. “Great offer, great atmosphere with the coaches and academics. Pitt seemed like it would be the best for my future.

“On my visit, I felt with all of the experience that the coaches had and the teams they’ve worked with … the academics … the facilities are top-notch to develop me as a player even more. It’s a very team-oriented place, family feeling type of school and team.”

Pittsburgh plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which traditionally has teams advance deep into the NCAA Division I playoffs and reach the College World Series. Ligenza is excited to be joining a team that will play in that competitive of an environment.

“The ACC is the second-best conference in the country,” Ligenza said. “You’re going to be traveling all around the country playing the best teams in the country. It’s great environments, which is only going to make you better. It’s hard to pass up playing in the ACC and playing college baseball.”

One look at the lanky Ligenza would make you believe that basketball would be his top sport, especially considering his family history.

Ligenza’s father, Joe Jr., is Tamaqua’s all-time leading boys’ basketball scorer with 1,722 points. He helped the Blue Raiders win the 1994 Schuylkill League title and was Tamaqua’s head coach in the early 2000s. His grandfather, Joe Sr., was a long-time PIAA basketball official. His younger sister, Lauren, is a key member of a Tamaqua girls’ squad expected to be one of the top teams in the Schuylkill League this season.

Watch Ligenza play baseball, however, and you can see he’s making the right decision.

A left-handed pitcher and hitter, Ligenza features a fastball that topped out at 86 mph in Perfect Game ratings with a sharp-breaking curveball. His smooth lefty swing makes him a threat to hit a home run every time he steps to the plate.

“The first thing you notice is his size,” Tamaqua coach Jeff Reading said. “Then when you watch him play … you watch him swing, you watch him throw, it’s effortless. He’s 6-5 and he can run. When you see it, it’s effortless, it’s smooth.”

Ligenza has started for Reading’s squad since he was a freshman. After Tamaqua went 4-16 his freshman season, Ligenza hit .386 (22-for-57) with 12 runs scored, 12 RBIs, five doubles, two triples and a homer as a sophomore as Tamaqua went 12-9 and qualified for the District 11 Class 4A playoffs. He was 5-1 on the mound with a 1.55 ERA, striking out 47 in 40.2 innings pitched.

The Brockton resident put up MVP-caliber numbers last season, hitting 36-for-73 at the plate with 36 runs scored, 19 RBIs, five doubles, three triples, eight homers and 18 stolen bases. On the mound, he struck out 75 and walked just 13 in 43.2 innings pitched.

The Blue Raiders finished 8-4 in Schuylkill League Division I, earning the wild card for the league playoffs. Tamaqua then beat Schuylkill Haven 5-2 and blanked Blue Mountain 6-0 to win the program’s third Schuylkill League crown and first since 2013.

Tamaqua’s season ended with a semifinal loss to Bethlehem Catholic in the District 11 Class 4A playoffs.

“He did it on the mound; he was our best pitcher,” Reading said. “At the plate he had a monstrous year. He sits back and looks for good pitches. I’m looking forward to his senior year. He should have a great year. He loves to play the game.”

Ligenza competed in invitation-only showcase tournaments in California and Alabama over the summer. Those tournaments are run by pro scouts to get a look at players who have already committed to play at the college level.

Tamaqua returns all but two seniors from last year’s squad and will be among the favorites in a revamped Schuylkill League baseball circuit next spring.

“This season … nothing less than what we did last year and even more. I would love to win the Schuylkill League again,” Ligenza said. “This year, with the returning players coming back, I feel that we’ll be much more prepared. We only lost two seniors. I’m hoping for nothing less than a Schuylkill League championship, districts and maybe beyond that.”

The son of Joe and Adrienne Ligenza, the 17-year-old Mason plans to study business, sports management and sports science at Pittsburgh.

He smiled when asked about possibly being selected in the 2025 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. For right now, he’s focused on having a big senior season at Tamaqua.

“We’re just going to see when that day comes. That’s the hope,” Ligenza said. “If that happens, that’s the ultimate goal, but when that day comes, we’ll see.”