Massachusetts Maritime Academy junior Chris Gallagher has found a way to combine his passion for sports, particularly baseball, with his commitment to community service. He is the president of the his school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and this year became the vice president of the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference SAAC.

A native of Sandwich, Gallagher is a marine safety and environmental protection major at the academy. He is also a member of the Buccaneers baseball team that reached the MASCAC Tournament this spring.

He grew up playing baseball and may be familiar to many fans of the Bourne Braves. He served as the team’s bat boy for five years, beginning in 2001, and worked for the club from 2007-10 as a junior intern.

Always a right-handed pitcher, he began playing baseball at the age of 5. He played Little League, Babe Ruth, Senior Babe Ruth, for the Sandwich High School Blue Knights, American Legion Post 188 and just completed his third season with the Buccaneers. This summer he plans a return to the diamond for his second season of Cranberry League baseball with the Plymouth Pirates.

“Being a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee allows me to both serve the community and be involved with athletics,” Gallagher said. “As athletes we’re able to work together to help others.”

Last year members of the academy’s SAAC worked with participants of the Special Olympics. During the Massachusetts Maritime and Bridgewater State Cranberry Bowl football game last fall, Gallagher organized a food drive, donating the items raised to the Bourne Friends Food Pantry. At Christmastime the organization ran a toy drive on campus gathering 250 toys, which they donated to Children’s Cove of Cape Cod.

When the Buccaneer men’s lacrosse team played their final game of the season last month, against MIT, Gallagher and members of the academy’s SAAC jumped into action collecting $650 at the game for The Jimmy Fund, which they donated in the name of fallen MIT police officer Sean Collier.

Last month he joined members of the MASCAC organization working with the athletes in a Special Olympics event at Salem State University. When the Buccaneer baseball team drafted Team Impact player Tyler Smith of Falmouth, who has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Gallagher, and three other members of the Buccaneers became big brothers, mentoring and supporting Smith.

As the president of the Massachusetts Maritime Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Gallagher’s mandate, according to the school’s website, is to “enhance the total student-athlete experience by promoting opportunity for all student-athletes, protecting student-athlete welfare, and fostering a positive student-athlete image, while maintaining the tenants of the rules and regulations of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference and Division III philosophy.”

“Chris has done a great job directing not only the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee here at the school, but has done an outstanding job in working with our conference,” Massachusetts Maritime Academy Athletic Director Bob Corradi said. “He has been a valuable member of our baseball team and our athletic community.”