Drew University Baseball Captain Announces He’s Gay

Another college athlete has come out as gay, this one from New Jersey.

The Drew University baseball team's captain, Matt Kaplon announced to his teammates that he is gay onSunday, according to the website Outsports.com.

Kaplon, a senior catcher and dean's list student from Palisades Park, said he revealed his sexual orientation to his family two months ago, but did not want to enter his final year of college without sharing his personal truth with his teammates.

"Everyone tells me that college is supposed to be the best four years of my life," Kaplon told Outsports. "I've had a great time, but for three and a half of them, I've been hiding things and not being the real me. Building friendships and meeting people and with my teammates, they know part of me but I finally feel like I want them to know everything.

"I want to be me 100 percent, and make sure they know I'm not hiding anything. I'm ready for that. I'm ready to start not having to hide."

According to the report, he received universal acceptance from everyone in the baseball program - "That was the manliest thing I've ever seen," one Rangers teammate reportedly told Kaplon after he shared the news -- and by Tuesday morning, the University tweeted its own approval:

"We're so proud of our baseball team capt. @MattKaplon who came out to his team Sunday," the school's official twitter account read.

"I told him, you've earned their respect as an athlete and a person and a competitor," Drew baseball coach Brian Hirschberg told Outsports. "I don't think they're going to treat him differently because he's gay. Through his teamwork and sportsmanship, he's earned that and I think his teammates are going to be cool with it."

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