Damian Costantino (born c. 1978) is an American baseball player who set the record for the longest

hitting streak In baseball, a hitting streak is the number of consecutive official games in which a player appears and gets at least one base hit. According to the Official Baseball Rules, such a streak is not necessarily ended when a player has at least 1 plate ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

baseball history, with a 60-game streak that ran through the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons playing for the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

Salve Regina Seahawks Salve Regina University competes on the NCAA Division III level and is a member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) and Commonwealth Coast Football (CCC Football). The university offers ten varsity sports for women (soccer, field hockey, te ...

and broke the mark set in 1987 by

Robin Ventura Robin Mark Ventura (born July 14, 1967) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager. Ventura played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Do ...

with 58. Costantino attended Warwick Veterans High School. He had seriously considered playing for a Division I school but chose to enlist in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

after graduating from high school. He became a

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is ...

at the end of his active duty military service and portions of his company in the 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion had been deployed to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

.Derewicz, Mark
"Costantino's hitting streak breaks record"
''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'', March 11, 2003. Accessed June 6, 2010. After two years in the Army, Costantino enrolled at

Salve Regina University Salve Regina University is a private Roman Catholic university in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It was founded in 1934 by the Sisters of Mercy and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. The university enrolls mo ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, where he majored in administration of justice. He joined the baseball team as a freshman and began his streak on April 1, 2001, in a game against Rhode Island College, and hit in 22 consecutive games through the end of the 2001 season, then got hits in all 35 games the team played in the 2002 season. During the 2002 season, he broke the previous Division III record with a hit against

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

in his 47th consecutive game. Salve Regina kicked off the 2003 season with a spring sequence of games in Florida. He made it to 57 with a double in his last at bat of their first game of the season and tied the record in the second game of the doubleheader against Wesley College.via ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

''
"Putting on the hits: Salve Regina's Costantino breaks Ventura's NCAA record
''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', March 10, 2003. Accessed June 6, 2010. He then broke Robin Ventura's NCAA record with a single in a game against

Mount Union College The University of Mount Union is a private university in Alliance, Ohio. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until the spring of 2019. In the fall of 2020, Mount Union had an enrollment of 1,958 undergraduate ...

, in a game that Mount Union won 13–2. He got hits in the next two games, extending the streak to 60 games, but ended his streak with no hits in three at bats in a game against

Baldwin–Wallace College Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace C ...

. In the streak-ending game, Costantino grounded out, hit a

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

, and flied out. He hoped to have the opportunity to play professional baseball saying "I know I'm older but baseball is my passion. I hope to play until I physically can't play any more and if not, I'll coach. I'll always want to be around the game." As of 2010, Costantino, ranked second in Salve Regina history with a .412

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, second in career hits with 200, second in

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run. For example, three singles is three total bases, while ...

with 293 and third in runs batted in with 127.Salve Regina University Baseball: Career History
,

. Accessed June 6, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costantino, Damian 1970s births Living people Baseball players from Rhode Island Sportspeople from Warwick, Rhode Island Salve Regina University alumni United States Army soldiers