Kyle Milligan 
Sam Falace is one of the 518’s premier baseball talents. The Niskayuna High School junior Left-Handed Pitcher/Outfielder is committed to playing college baseball at the University of Pittsburgh. His fastball sits in the mid to upper 80s, touching 89, and also hitting above .300 this summer for the All-Star Academy 16u Elite squad, playing against the top competition the US Summer Circuit has to offer.
I sat down and spoke to Sam this past weekend and this is what he had to say about this upcoming season, his time at All-Stars, and his future at Pitt.
With High School spring sports pushed back by almost two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Niskayuna baseball has been preparing for the upcoming season. “We hit every Sunday at a facility in Schenectady, but mostly we work individually to prepare for the season,” said Falace. Falace is preparing for his first varsity season for Niskyauna and is poised to be their top arm and bat for the next two seasons. Falace was on track to make Varsity as a sophomore after tossing 31 innings, striking out 59 as well as hitting .380 with one home run as a freshman on the Silver Warrior’s JV squad in 2019.
As a pitcher, Falace is working on developing a third pitch that he can consistently rely on. Falace boasts a fastball and curveball already but the development of a changeup is what Sam is focusing on this offseason, “Hitters are going to get better, and you can’t really rely on just two pitches so I want to have that third pitch to pull out of my pocket.”
Falace committed to the University of Pittsburgh during the fall of 2020, a school that plays in the ACC, one of the top conferences in the country. Falace said he fell in love with the campus and the baseball program due to the relationships he built with the Pittsburgh coaching staff.
“I was impressed with the facilities; they are all new including their home field,” which was recently renovated in 2018 when a full-turf field was put in. When asked about the opportunity to play in the ACC, Sam had this to say, “Playing in the ACC, that was my dream school to play in one of the top conferences in the country. Getting the opportunity to do that is unreal.”
Sam has the potential to play both the outfield and be a solid pitcher at the next level. This past summer his stat line was eye-opening, even in a season affected by the pandemic. On the mound, Sam amassed 90 strikeouts in 46.1 innings, a 1.51 earned run average, and a .140 batting average against.
At the plate, Sam hit .297 with a .365 on-base percentage and scored 23 runs as the leadoff hitter for All-Stars Academy Elite. When asked about being a two-way player at Pittsburgh, Sam had this to say, “I feel like I can be a two-way, although it’s harder, I’m willing to do that. I feel like my best chance of succeeding is on the mound though but if I can hit, I’ll do whatever I can to do both. I’ll do whatever I can to help my team win.”
Sam also told me that his favorite player to play against in the area is All-Stars teammate and Troy High/LSU commit Michael Kennedy. Sam said about the chance to play against Michael, “It gives you a look of what you are going to see at the next level. Just to go up against a high-level pitcher and see how you can do against him.”
Both guys are two of the most dominant Left-handed pitchers in Section 2 and are both poised to make a lot of noise during the high school season and at the next level.
Cooper Priamo 
