Baseball is still baseball, but recruiting student-athletes is now a whole different ballgame. High school prospects are often influenced by what they see on a program's Instagram page, so the Siena baseball team is upping its IG content.
Head Coach Alex Jurczynski has recruited a team of interns to produce videos, take pictures, and generate content for the team page. Marketing student Patrick Riley '25 was part of this year's recruiting class.
"Coach gives us a general idea of what he's looking for like the length of videos and guidelines for the music. But we have a lot of creative freedom. We're doing what we can to help spice up the IG page."
Riley peaked as a ballplayer in parent pitch (he was more into soccer), but he's enjoying the credentialed access to DI athletics.
"It's fun to be more in touch with athletics on campus rather than just going to the games, which I enjoy. I feel like this gives me a more personal connection to campus."
That's a bonus. The true advantage is skill-building for the future.
Riley had a final round interview with Fidelity Investments two weeks ago. He's hoping to land the workplace planning associate position, and he believes this internship – which he described in the first two interviews – gives him an advantage.
"I've mentioned that this is what I'm doing with the baseball team, and I'm getting more experience with marketing tools I hadn't really been exposed to before."
As a planning associate, Riley wouldn't be creating content, but his goal would be to transfer into a more creative digital field. He's gaining experience with every post.
If there's one regret with this internship, it's in New York. That's not Siena's fault, it's just an unfortunate reality when you're from New England (New Hampshire, specifically) and it's baseball season.
"Being a Boston fan has not been super well received by the Siena team. There's a lot of Yankees and Mets fans on the roster."
“Our baseball social media interns play a vital role in connecting our program with the Siena community. Our social media team is creative, consistent, and they are up to date with all the new and fun ideas popular across all the different social media platforms. They help showcase the hard work and dedication of our Siena Baseball student athletes. Patrick, along with the rest of our social media intern team, has done a good job of coming to our practices and games to document the energy, effort, and behind-the-scenes moments that make Siena Baseball special.”
Alex Jurczynski, head baseball coach
