Jack Rollo ’27 the summer intern and Jack Rollo the Denison baseball player provide the same level of versatility to those in charge.
He pitches, plays infield, and serves as a designated hitter for baseball coach Mike Deegan. And shortly after winning a Division III NCAA championship with the Big Red in June 2026, the data analytics major became a valuable utility player for the Premier Pitching Performance facility in suburban St. Louis.
“Jack has been a phenomenal addition,” says Nolan Rappe, sales and performance coordinator at Premier Pitching Performance, which features seven Midwest locations. “He is working as a research and development intern. Much like with the Denison baseball team, Jack is a Swiss Army Knife for us with his ability to provide value on numerous projects.”
Rollo was the primary designated hitter on a Big Red team that compiled a 51-3 record, tied an NCAA D-III mark with a 44-game winning streak, and captured the program’s first national championship. He also landed an internship combining his twin passions of data science and baseball.
“I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot,” says Rollo, whose family lives in suburban St. Louis. “I’m doing something in my domain of interest, and I’m getting to translate data into insights that are being used by the company. I’ve seen how they’re using what we’re building to help improve their training regimens for athletes, so that’s pretty special.”
Rollo credits the data analytics program at Denison for having the confidence to work on big projects and apply for appealing internships. He points to his DA 301 course, Practicum in Data Analytics taught by Associate Professor Sarah Supp, as the one that gave him the knowledge and skills to thrive at Premier Pitching Performance.
The class breaks students into groups, partners them with off-campus clients seeking their data-driven expertise, and requires them to communicate with clients and make final presentations.
In fall 2025, Rollo’s group was tasked with analyzing data that helped the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium care for its sea lions and seals. He is an inquisitive student, Supp says, who’s comfortable in dealing with his group members and clients.
“I saw a lot of growth in Jack throughout the semester,” Supp says. “You have to be willing to have conversations with your teammates and your clients when searching for the best solutions. Jack did that with both audiences.”
Rollo’s course work taught him how to use R Shiny, an open-source framework that lets data scientists build interactive apps and dashboards using R code. Rollo was among five data analytics majors who developed an innovative dashboard allowing Big Red coaches to monitor their players’ fitness trends.
His Denison experiences made him a perfect fit for Premier Pitching Performance.
Rollo first met Rappe in high school while the baseball player was rehabbing an injury. In the summer of 2025, he reached out to Rappe at Premier Pitching Performance and asked if he could assist the staff for a month before returning to college. Rappe and his colleagues were so impressed they offered him a summer internship this year.
Premier Pitching Performance works with athletes ranging from middle school to the professional ranks. The goal is to build a pitcher’s velocity and improve his command using motion-capture technology and the apps and models Rollo helped develop.
“Jack has been a part of refining our biomechanics scoring models as well as working on an injury-risk prediction model leveraging some of that motion-capture data,” Rappe says. “His high baseball acumen also allows us to utilize him in the lab collecting data.”
Rappe believes Rollo has the potential to work for a pro baseball organization in its player development or front office departments. Rollo says finding post-graduate work in the sports industry is an option he’s considering.
Denison added sports analytics to its lineup of data analytics concentrations in the 2025-26 academic year, and Rollo is focused on health and human movement — a significant component of his internship.
“Jack has helped us in so many ways,” Rappe says. “ He’s a welcome part of any team we roll out for any project.”
Denison coaches and professors will benefit from that versatility for one more year.
