Q&A: Catching up with Lehigh baseball Alumni

The Brown and White spoke with four Lehigh Baseball Alumni—Mark Garzilllo, ‘16, Mark Washington, ‘17, Tony Gallo, ‘20, and Levi Stoudt, ‘19—to reflect on their years at Lehigh and catch up on what they’ve been doing since graduation.

Q: What have you been up to since graduation and what are you currently doing professionally?

Mark Garzillo ‘16: I graduated in 2016 and then I was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 25th round. Once I got released, I took a job working at Lehigh in the alumni engagement and fundraising branch of the athletics department. I just took a new job as the director of development for athletics.

Mark Washington ‘17: Since graduation, I have been devoting a lot of my time toward my baseball career. Everything I’ve been doing between training, travel, living, and work has been built around my schedule with baseball.

Tony Gallo ‘20: I was a COVID senior, so I lost my senior year. I thought there was a chance I could have gotten drafted, but things didn’t line up and I am now at Widener (University) for Physical Therapy school.

Levi Stoudt ‘19: I was supposed to graduate in 2020 but I left after my junior year after being drafted by the Seattle Mariners. Right now I’m in Peoria, Arizona, for minor league spring training camp and then I’ll start the minor league season in a month.

Q: What are your favorite Lehigh baseball memories?

MW: We definitely had some fun times on the field winning games, but I think my most fond memories were made off the field.  We spent a lot of time together between studying for exams, lifting, practicing, going to eat at Rathbone and relaxing on off days. 

LS: The night before our home-opener, our whole team would go out to eat at The Goose and have a buffet-style dinner. That whole first weekend of each season was a good memory for me.

Q: How has your Lehigh baseball experience helped shape you today?

MG: I owe a lot to Lehigh in general, and also Lehigh athletics and Lehigh Baseball. The rigors of being a student-athlete at Lehigh where you learn things like time management and how to prioritize and how to get through something that’s really difficult have definitely helped me in my life after Lehigh. 

LS: College on its own is a great time to grow and learn about yourself and kind of figure out who you are. Being put into an athletics program, especially Lehigh Baseball, taught me how to be a good person, how to be a good teammate, and how to be accountable. My three years there really helped me grow and become a better person as well as a baseball player.

Q: What have you been doing during the pandemic?

MG: It’s work, exercise, eating food, and repeat. My hobby during the pandemic has definitely been exercise.

MW: I’ve been training, throwing, and working throughout the whole pandemic. I was out in Arizona training and throwing until August 2020, then came back home tof Philly to relax for a month. After that month, I spent the rest of my time down in Florida working at Lululemon and training for Spring Training.

Q: Have you been able to keep in touch with old teammates?

MG: In today’s day and age, you’re a text or phone call away so it’s easy to stay in touch. Even when we don’t talk for a while, I know they’re thinking about me and they know I’m thinking about them, and when we finally do get a chance to talk it’s like we pick up right where we left off. 

TG: I lost connection with a lot of people just because of school, but I still reach out to a lot of my teammates, especially the guys who are playing now. I’ll reach out every week to say good luck and ‘I hope you guys play well.’ 

LS: There’s still a handful of guys that I talk to pretty regularly and I think that type of relationship you have with your teammates in college is one that kind of never goes away. You will always have each other’s backs and check-in and just be there for each other throughout life.