For as long as he can remember, Branden Comia has had a baseball bat in his hands.
The problem was that he didn’t use it very well.
“I was actually really bad, just a bad baseball player, until I was about 10,” Comia said. “I was on this travel team and the coach told me they were not going to bring me back.”
He decided to ask his father, Frank, for a little help.
“I told my dad, ‘I don’t care if I hate you at the end of it, drag me out and make me a better player every day,’” Branden said.
It worked.
Comia worked alongside his brother, Jayden, with their dad purchasing a batting cage for both to use in the backyard. In time, Branden started to flourish.
After a successful career at Sandburg, Branden is in his fifth year at Illinois. The senior third baseman recently had a streak of reaching base in 60 games snapped.
Unlike a hitting streak, it didn’t get too much fanfare. Cam McDonald, Comia’s roommate, owns the program record with 63. But Comia started to hear rumblings a few weeks ago.
“Honestly, I didn’t know about it until they started tweeting about it,” Comia said. “Looking back at it, I wish they didn’t. It was around 56 or 57 when I knew about it.
“I told my roommate I was going to beat him, but it didn’t happen.”
It was still an impressive streak, according to former Sandburg teammate John-Michael Scumaci, who’s starring at North Central College.
“I’ve followed him online and checked out how he’s been doing,” Scumaci said. “That streak was nuts.”
Comia was trying not to overthink things during the streak.
“It was just trying to get good team at-bats,” he said. “It helps simplify everything else.”
His batting average each season shows the ups and downs that hitters go through.
Comia hit .255 as a freshman in 2019, then jumped to .426 during a sophomore season shortened by the pandemic. He hit .323 in both 2021 and 2022.
This spring, Comia’s average has dipped to .263 through his first 25 games, which includes six home runs. His career high is seven homers, set last season in 53 games.
“One day you can show up to the field, and it feels like you are never going to make another out,” Comia said. “You show up the next day, and it feels like you never hit a ball before.
“It’s just sticking with your routine and your process and trusting the work you are doing.”
Sandburg coach Jim Morsovillo said Comia has been the best all-around player in his tenure.
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“He hit for average, hit for power and could bunt for a hit,” Morsovillo said. “He had good speed, could steal bases. He could lock down at shortstop. He ended up being our closer his senior year.”
Morsovillo remembers Comia, as a junior, hitting a game-winning home run over the scoreboard at Sandburg to beat Stagg and a homer to center field at his future home park of Illinois Field in a supersectional game against O’Fallon.
Jayden is a freshman infielder with the Illini, but the two brothers won’t play together because Jayden is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Branden, meanwhile, was high on several MLB draft prospect lists in 2022 but was not selected. After that disappointment, he decided to adjust his focus.
“I’m just kind of rolling with it,” he said. “I’ve come to terms that this could be my last year playing baseball. If it is, I’m going to enjoy it and not worry about things like that.
“I’m not going to let it ruin the season for me.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
