Luca McKerley Coronado
Bowdoin College
Baseball
Junior
Berkeley, Calif.
Major: Neuroscience & Hispanic Studies

Why did you choose to attend Bowdoin?
I wanted an opportunity to explore my academic interests and continue to play baseball at a high level. Bowdoin allowed me to do both of those things.

What is your dream job/career?
I am on the pre-med track, so my dream career would be in medicine. I am not exactly sure about a specialty, but I am interested in working in neurology or psychiatry.

What extracurricular activities or service activities do you participate in?
At home, I have coached for my youth travel ball team. That was an amazing opportunity to give back to a community that has given me so much. I also got to learn a little more about coaching, a side of baseball that I typically don’t interact with. Something really cool that the Bowdoin Baseball team has done is give back to the Maine community by volunteering at Lyman Moore Middle School in Portland. We were able to play games and help students with classwork. A couple times I got to speak Spanish with some of the kids we worked with and that was pretty awesome.

Is there anything special about your uniform number?
An older cousin of mine, Cade, gave me an University of Alabama jersey with the #3 on it when I was very little. I’ve always loved the #3 for that reason, and I finally got it this year.

What’s your go-to warmup song?
Last year my walk-up/warmup song (I pitch so it would be more of a warmup song) was Suavemente by Elvis Crespo, but this year I think it’ll be Showdown by Electric Light Symphony.

Have you studied abroad during your collegiate experience?
I went to Madrid last semester (Fall 2024) with the Middlebury in Spain program. It was an amazing experience. I signed a language pledge where I committed to speaking Spanish for the entirety of
my time in Spain. I am a native speaker, but it was amazing to be fully emersed in a Spanish speaking environment for an extended period of time, something I have never done before. In Madrid, I received three credits towards my Hispanic Studies major which will be crucial for me to complete the major.

What has been the most interesting part of your major?
I really enjoy biology, but I also have interest in psychology. I think the coolest part of my neuroscience major is that I get to see both. I have taken a lot of molecular focused classes and a focus of those classes has been understanding how our knowledge about the molecular pathway actually causes a phenotype.

For my Hispanic Studies major, one of the coolest things is being able to think and learn in a completely different way than most of my classes. I feel that with neuroscience it’s easy to get stuck in
the weeds, and my Spanish classes are an amazing way to engage with completely different material and current events in a way that I simply couldn’t do in STEM courses.

What is your favorite place on your campus?
My favorite place at Bowdoin is actually just off-campus. There’s this coffee shop in Brunswick called Dog Bar Jim. I love Ben, the owner, and his place is pretty awesome. He makes some amazing
sandwiches.

Who has been the most influential person to you during your time in college?
Definitely my pitching coach from home, Jeff Pick. Jeff and I have built a great relationship in the five years that I’ve known him. I would not be who I am today if it weren’t for Jeff. When I’m home, I throw my bullpens with Jeff, but I also help talk to some of his younger guys about what it means to play baseball at the next level.

What is something you enjoy doing when not in class or competing in your sport?
I really enjoy going outside. I think that a lot of my free time is spent doing outdoor activities. I really enjoy kayaking and that is definitely something I want to do more of in the coming years. I also enjoy hiking and biking. Being in nature is a gift and it is something that I really enjoy doing.