Sonny DiChiara's parents reveal backstory to his name during College World Series

On3 imageby:Jonathan Wagner06/20/22

Jonathan Wagner

One of the most important pieces of Auburn’s baseball team is first baseman Sonny DiChiara. He has hit 22 home runs with 59 RBI so far this season with a .389 average, and college baseball fans across the country have become enamored with the Auburn star.

During Auburn’s elimination game in the College World Series against Stanford, though, it was revealed that DiChiara’s first name is in fact not Sonny.

Lara DiChiara, Sonny’s mother, joined the ESPN broadcast, where she provided some background on the origins of her son’s name. She did not reveal Sonny’s birth name, but did confirm that it is not Sonny.

“He’s named after my mother’s father, and that was his nickname – Sonny,” she said. “And so we’ve used that as Sonny’s name, even though it’s not his true, given birth name. But we’ve always called him that, he’s never gone by anything else.”

DiChiara’s family is soaking in Auburn’s CWS run

The DiChiara family is enjoying everything in while in Omaha, and Lara said that being here has been a dream. But she isn’t ready for things to end quite yet.

“It’s been incredible,” Lara DiChiara said. “It’s been exciting, it’s been a dream. For him to be playing at this level, to be playing at Auburn and now to be playing here, honestly it’s hard to even have the words for this, to be here and to be playing. We would love to keep playing, but it’s been just a dream, honestly.”

Sonny’s father, mike DiChiara, has been incredibly proud of his son’s accomplishments throughout his baseball career. As DiChiara looks to help Auburn stave off elimination against Stanford, his father praised him for doing things the right way.

“Just his accomplishments for one,” Mike DiChiara said. “And then he’s done it the hard way. He’s earned everything he’s got. It makes me proud.

“Well he’s matured in everything really. When you come up as a freshman, you don’t really know what’s gonna happen or anything. But he’s handled it with the best and he’s learned every year and gotten better every year.”

The entire experience in Omaha has been amazing for DiChiara’s parents, and his father has truly appreciated the support Auburn fans have shown his son.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “The fans and everything, they’re so nice. Everybody is rooting for Sonny and the team and it’s amazing.