Cornell University Athletics

Senior Season — 2017
Balestrieri was the clear ace of the staff, ranking second in the Ivy League with both a 2.18 ERA and .229 opponents batting average en route to placement on the All-Ivy League second team. His ERA also ranked 35th nationally among qualifying pitchers, and his WHIP of 1.11 was 92nd across a team-high 57.2 innings. Balestrieri was an extremely effective groundball pitcher, inducing 95 groundouts against just 28 flyouts. It also helped him induce eight double plays and yield just eight extra-base hits across nine starts. He was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week after working into the eighth inning of the Big Red's 2-1 win over Michigan State on March 19. Balestrieri then ended his collegiate career on a high note with 7.2 innings against Princeton, yielding just an unearned run to pull his record up to 5-4. After the season, Balestrieri was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 26th round of the 2017 MLB draft. He finished out the summer by making 12 starts for the Short Season-A State College Spikes.

Junior Season — 2016
The top of the rotation featured Balestrieri, who was tied for the team lead with nine starts while posting a 2-6 record and 5.51 ERA. He was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week after a complete game against Harvard on April 2, when he yielded just three hits, one walk and an unearned run over seven innings against the rival Crimson. He also had seven strikeouts in the game, which tied a season-high set in the season opener against Northeastern on March 5. His 49 innings pitched led the team. 

Sophomore Season — 2015
Balestrieri made a late season transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation during his second year on the East Hill. He ended the season with 15 appearances, including three starts, all of them coming in the month of April. He finished second on the team in innings pitched (40 2/3) and also led the squad in saves (4) before he was moved to the rotation. His only decision of the campaign came during his second start on April 24 at Princeton when he picked up the win after throwing six innings, while giving up four runs in the Big Red's 13-4 victory. He also sits at 5th in the all-time ranks at Cornell in saves (6) after his first two seasons.

Freshman Season — 2014
Balestrieri made 10 appearances, including one start, while posting a 1-2 record and 6.16 earned-run average in his collegiate debut. He also had a pair of saves — both on the same day, April 25, vs. Princeton — which was tied for the team lead. Used sporadically in non-league play, Balestrieri made seven appearances in Ivy League games, which was tied for the team lead. He was most effective in relief, including a massive five-inning outing against Brown on April 6 in which he surrendered two hits and no walks while fanning a season-high five to earn the win. Balestrieri had the team's best strikeout-to-walk ratio (20:4) and opposing batters hit just .243 against him. He also allowed just three of his nine inherited runners throughout the season to score.

Prior to Cornell
Balestrieri posted a 7-0 record and 1.08 earned-run average with 61 strikeouts as a senior in high school en route to his second selection as both an all-conference first-team selection and team MVP. He was also named the Trenton Times’ Colonial Valley Conference Player of the Year and was selected for the state All-Star Game. Balestrieri was a Perfect Game USA Top 1,000 national recruit and a member of the Rawlings Preseason All-Northeast Region Second Team.

Personal
Paul Anthony Balestrieri is the son of Angelo and Tracey Balestrieri, and he has a younger brother. His grandfather, James C. Thomas, and uncle, Dave Thomas, are Cornell alumni. He is enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences.