Over the years, Eric Snyder has been committed to the game of baseball.

The love for the game initially started when his father, Scott Snyder, introduced him to the sport when he was only five years.Thirteen years later, Snyder has finally been able to fullfill a childhood dream."I always wanted to play baseball in college," Snyder said. "To get the opportunity to do so is absolutely amazing."Snyder announced yesterday afternoon that he was furthering his academics, as well as his baseball career, at Division I Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey.After receiving offers from programs like Rider University and College of Misercordia, all it took was one meeting with first-year Knights' head coach Gary Puccio to catch Snyder's full attention."Farleigh-Dickinson was one of the first major offers that I got," said Snyder, who will attend FDU on a 85-percent scholarship. "I got a couple of nibbles here and there with 'If you're interested, come to our camp,' and stuff like that. But, as soon as Coach Puccio and I met it was like instant fireworks. He liked what he saw as far as my baseball talent. I liked what he brought to the table."Shortly afterwards, I visited the campus and I met some of the players from the team, received a campus tour and it was just seemed like everything was a perfect for me everything was falling right into place."Snyder made a lasting impression with Puccio at a "Baseball Heaven" clinic in Long Island last fall."It was actually miserable that day 45-mile per hour winds, thirty-six degrees outside, not a real nice day for baseball," Snyder said. "I knew Coach Puccio was coming to see me, as well a two other players that signed (Shane Siebler, of Nazareth, and Brett Bittiger, of Pius X) and all three of us knew we kind of had to go out and show our stuff because now it mattered the most."Afterwards, Coach Puccio told me he liked the fight and attitude in my pitching and the persona of my game. It might not have been my best outing, but it showed what I could bring to the table and that's what he liked."Northern Lehigh head coach Erv Prutzman said there was more than just his physical talent that attracted Coach Puccio to Snyder."There are a lot of ingredients that make him special," Prutzman said. "Number one, he (Eric) loves the game. Number two, he works on it almost all year. Number three, he is very coachable."Those are ingredients that any coach at the any level loves and he has all three of them. That's why he's as successful as he has been."While he is excited to continue his dream after he graduates, Snyder is also looking forward to his senior baseball season with the Bulldogs. ."I'm expecting even better things than last year," Snyder said. "I know last year winning the Colonial League championship was great, but losing to Pine Grove in the Districts it hurt."I wanted to go into this season with a clear head and now not having to worry about my college decision I can go out there and have fun and play the game the way it should be played. I think everybody on the team is anxious to get out on the field and hopefully add some more championships to the one we won last year."