Former Old Bridge High School baseball star, Florida State U. signee Zach Attianese and his father killed in crash

UPDATE: Evening of reflection held for Zach and Jude Attianese at Old Bridge baseball field Monday night

Former Old Bridge High School baseball star Zach Attianese, a beloved student-athlete and the reigning Suncoast Conference Pitcher of the Year at State College of Florida, who was going to continue his promising career at Florida State University, and his father, Jude, died in a six-vehicle crash in Michigan on Friday night.

A crash occurred just before 11 p.m. on northbound Interstate 75 near Dix Toledo Road in Brownstown Township after a semi-truck struck a car, according to the Michigan State Police. Four other cars were damaged in the crash, which remains under investigation.

Authorities notified family members of the deceased but have yet to publicly identify the victims of the crash, other than to say they were a 61-year-old man and a 20-year-old man from New Jersey. Multiple sources have confirmed Attianese and his father were the victims. Both were in transit to attend a relative’s funeral.

Michigan State Police issued a news release late Saturday night, providing further details of the crash, which caused the northbound and southbound lanes of the freeway to be closed for approximately eight hours.

The semi-truck lost control in a construction merge area, striking several other motorists before hitting a median wall, causing large chunks of debris to be displaced onto the southbound lane. Several injured persons received first aid at the scene, while other involved parties were transported to a nearby hospital and treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Michigan State Police were able to confirm the sequence of events that resulted in the fatalities based on statements from individuals who witnessed the crash and information from accident investigators and accident reconstructionists.

“Our prayers go out to Zach's mom Natalie and his sisters, Ashley and Sabrina, as they endure this heartbreaking tragedy," said legendary Florida State University head coach Mike Martin, the winningest head coach in NCAA Division I baseball history. "Zach was a wonderful young man with a bright future that was sadly stripped away. Zach was excited about coming to Florida State and he will forever be a part of the Seminole baseball family. We will continue to have the Attianese family in our thoughts.”

Old Bridge Public Schools Superintendent David Cittadino said counseling professionals will be available for students, staff and community members this week.

“As a father and an educator, the news of Zach Attianese and Jude Attianese’s passing is hauntingly tragic,” Cittadino said. “Zach and his dad were deeply connected to the Old Bridge school-community. I can see their images in my mind attending numerous events together since Zach was a young boy.

“Together, they exemplified what a father-and-son loving relationship is supposed to look like. To lose them both on this (Father’s Day) weekend is not lost on tragic irony. Experience will never prepare me for the devastating loss of a student. However, in Old Bridge, we shall do what we always do when we face adversity – we will rally together and support the family in whatever way they may need.”

During Saturday’s Greater Middlesex Conference Baseball Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game at North Brunswick’s Community Park, a moment of silence was held for Attianese and his father. Old Bridge pitcher Paul Tannucilli wore Zach’s No. 49 in honor of his former teammate. Old Bridge head coach Matt Donaghue said the jersey will be officially retired and never worn again.

“Everything you wish you had in a student-athlete, Zach was that kid,” Donaghue said, noting Attianese returned to his alma mater last week to work with the high school baseball program’s young pitchers.

“He did everything the right way. Not one person had a bad thing to say about him. He was a leader on and off the field. As good as he was as an athlete, he was an even better young man. His father and mother (Natalie) did a great job raising him. His father was an exceptional man, always with a smile on his face who wanted nothing but the best for his son. Both will be truly missed, but never forgotten.”

Attianese, a former Gatorade New Jersey Scholastic Player of the Year who pitched last spring at the University of North Carolina, making nine relief appearances as a true freshman, transferred to State College of Florida, where he recently posted a 10-3 record with 94 strikeouts over 88 innings.

The rising junior lefthander, who Perfect Game ranked as the 18th best junior college prospect in the country, had two years of eligibility remaining and was on the radar of professional scouts. He committed to Florida State University earlier this year.

“I really miss the kid already,” State College of Florida head baseball coach Tim Hill II said. “He meant everything to us. He took a leap of faith with us to leave North Carolina to come here. He was everything as advertised, and more.

“We always get really good players down here in our program, but he was a fabulous kid. He was an excellent student, his teammates loved him and he was low maintenance off the field. You never heard a story about him doing the wrong thing.”

Hill said the Los Angeles Dodgers called him and expressed interest in selecting Attianese during the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, but that Attianese made it abundantly clear he wouldn’t sign a professional contract at the time because he wanted to continue his development and education at Florida State University.

“He signed with Florida State and was excited about the opportunity. His parents were so proud of him. It’s just heartbreaking and devastating. He was just what a student-athlete should be. He was the whole package.”

During the postgame press conference following his team’s victory over Oregon State in the College Baseball World Series on Saturday, North Carolina head coach Mike Fox addressed the passing of Zach and Jude Attianese.

“That was our pregame meal this morning, me having to tell our team, so I want to first of all let the Attianese family know how much the Carolina baseball program is thinking of them, and I just want to give a shout out to (sophomore catcher) Brandon Martorano (of Marlboro), because that (playing in the game) was mighty hard for him to do," an emotional Fox said of Attianese's former college batterymate, who graduated in 2016 from Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft. "They’ve been friends ever since they were kids. Life is fleeting, and it was tough news for our team to hear. I really didn’t want our team to know before the game, but we didn’t have any choice because of social media ... God bless Zach and his dad.”

Attianese got in a workout at the Baseball Warehouse in Highland Park on Friday morning before he and his father left New Jersey for Michigan.

“He was very positive after the season he had and he was hungrier than ever to kind of take that energy and step up and prove a lot of people wrong in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) that he belonged,” said Joe Augustine, an instructor at the Baseball Warehouse who was working 1-on-1 with Zach and who provided the ace with pitching lessons in years past. “He was very determined. He was a kid with great makeup due to the great people he was around baseball-wise and his mother and his father and his family.”

Mike Garlatti, a scout with the Colorado Rockies and owner of the Baseball Warehouse, spoke with Zach Attianese on Friday morning.

“He was working hard as usual, trying to get himself stronger and his body stronger,” Garlatti said. “He wasn’t going to pitch this summer, with the intentions of getting stronger and more physical.

“As a young man, he was a gentleman. He was always kind to everybody and he was always respectful. His father was a good man who had a passion and a love for the game and wanted what was best for his son. He was the guy who always asked questions and made sure he was doing the right thing for Zach.”

Old Bridge High School pitching coach Fred Cole, a member of the New Jersey State Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame who has been involved with the sport for more than 50 years, said he may have never witnessed a father-and-son relationship as special as that which Zach enjoyed with Jude.

“Jude was as involved as any parent could be, and in the most positive way,” Cole said. “He was totally supportive of his son. He took him all over. Jude was the center of a particular era of baseball in Old Bridge because (Zach and his teammates, who won the high school's first sectional title in 2015) started in Little League and played travel ball together. They drew an amazing amount of families to baseball to socialize, barbecue, travel and spend weekends together. Jude was at the center of it all. He was the liveliest guy in the world. He had more energy than you could imagine.”

Attianese compiled a deceptive 11-6 career record with a 0.92 ERA and 148 strikeouts in 119 innings for Old Bridge, where he initially attracted the attention of professional scouts with a devastating 12-to-6 curveball and a fastball that topped out in the high 80-mph range.

As a high school sophomore, Attianese was named Gatorade’s New Jersey Scholastic Baseball Player of the Year. The criteria for selecting winners from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia included athletic production and impact, academic achievement and exemplary personal character (including volunteerism, sportsmanship and community leadership).

During that breakout season, Attianese went 5-2 with a 0.61 ERA. He fanned 67 batters in 45 and two thirds innings and also batted .306 with nine extra-base hits, 18 runs and 18 RBI. He boasted a 4.16 weighted grade-point average and volunteered locally as a teacher’s aide at his church (St. Ambrose in Old Bridge) CCD program, participated in an annual basketball game for autistic children, fundraised for cancer research and shoveled snow for the elderly in his neighborhood. Zach was also a basketball star in high school.

“He’s as good as it gets,” Jimmy Freel Sr., who was Attianese's head coach in high school, previously told MyCentralJersey.com. “He’s a great student, a great citizen, a great player and a great teammate. Zach is the most coachable kid you’d ever want on your team. He’s just a well-raised young man who, as long as he stays on that path, has got a bright future in anything he does.”

As a high school senior, an arm injury derailed Zach’s trajectory, preventing him from fulfilling projections that he would be drafted out of high school.

“He never lost faith in himself,” Cole said. “He had such a passion for baseball. Because of that passion and his belief in himself, he worked as hard as anybody I’ve seen to get himself back to where he was. He was bigger, smarter and stronger. He never stopped, when other people may have.”

“Zach has always been a team-first player and a fierce competitor willing to do whatever it takes to help his team win,” Attianese’s adviser, Matthew P. Cormier of ICON Sports Management, previously told MyCentralJersey.com.

“He was New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore in high school and obviously has tremendous ability on the mound.  But what’s most important is his work ethic in that he’s the type of kid you really believe has the internal drive to fulfill his vast potential.”

READ MORE: New Jersey father, son killed in 6-car crash on I-75 in Brownstown