Six JDCC baseball players sign scholarships

Published 10:13 am Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Bush

Bush

Fox

Fox

Jones

Jones

Hill

Hill

Marshall

Marshall

Peterson

Peterson

 

 

 

 

Six members of the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawk baseball team will see their careers continue in the game in the fall when they finish up at JDCC this spring.
Team manager Dillon Bush has signed a scholarship while players Logan Hill,
Michael Fox, Mitchell Peterson, Alex Jones and Trey Marshall have also signed scholarships.
Hill has accepted a scholarship offer from Troy University while Fox will go to the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Marshall and Peterson will go to Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, and Jones will go to Spring Hill College in Mobile.
Bush has accepted a scholarship opportunity to join the Athletic Department at Troy University as a team manager for the baseball team.
“I am really proud for each of these guys,” JDCC head coach Darrell Blevins said of the members of his baseball team moving on. “They have taken the opportunity extended to them from Jefferson Davis and made the most of the opportunity allowing them to extend their career and academic pursuits. This is really, really big. For any institution to step up and want you to be a part of their school, part of their athletic program, and to offer to help financially with the process, that is huge. I am also proud for our other players and the impact they have made on these guys and the help they have provided them to get this opportunity. This is part of what a team is supposed to do, help each other get better and be the best we can be.”
Blevins said he is very fortunate that the institution and baseball program continue to be productive in helping our student-athletes.
“While they are here, they gain an incredible amount of experience from a very competitive environment which prepares them for academics and athletics at the next level,” he said. “This is one area we have consistently done a good job at. Our student-athletes will have an opportunity to better themselves. With weeks remaining in this season, I would not be surprised at all to see a few more of our players get other opportunities. We still have guys who are currently unsigned with exceptional statistics that have the ability to play at the next level.
“If we do end up with the opportunity to go to the state tournament, I’m confident they will be offered an opportunity to move on as well,” he said.

Bush:
“It feels great to be able to move on to the next level,” Bush said. “I am really looking forward to it. Just knowing that I will be managing a Division 1 baseball team is just awesome. Words can’t describe how happy I am to have this opportunity. The reason Troy is my school of choice is because that it is closer to home. I won’t be so far off from my family. I also picked Troy because all the people I have talked to that have went there all loved it.”
Bush said he hopes to “keep the team rolling” with anything he would have to do.
“Hopefully I can be part of a great run in the next two years and personally I want to go through the sports management program and find a job within a sports team at the big level,” he said. “When I get to Troy I will be doing anything the coaches tell me. I will be doing anything from washing uniforms, field management, stat charts, ball or bat boy during games, setting up the field for practice, and whatever else I am told to do. I am not sure of my daily routine but I believe it will consist of going to class, then practice, then home to study, and wake up again and do it all over. I am not sure about game days.”
Bush said his favorite part of JDCC would have to be being apart of the baseball team the past two years.
“The school part of it has been great but the baseball side has been the best,” he said. “We are like a brotherhood. We all have each other’s back. It is like having a second family.”
Bush’s college major is sports management.

Hill:
“It is a very rewarding feeling to have signed to Troy,” Hill said. “It makes all the years of hard work worthwhile to be able to continue my baseball career at such a high level. Troy is a good school with a great baseball program I am honored to be able to play there and help continue their success on the field. I plan to major in math and applied sciences. JDCC has helped continue my academics but also has been my stepping stool to further my career without jdcc giving me the opportunity to play I would not be where I am today. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity than at Troy and thankful for my time here at JDCC.”
Hill’s major is engineering.
Hill has recently been chosen as a member of the NJCAA Baseball National Team.
The NJCAA Baseball National Team will participate this summer in the 80th NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan. The tournament will take place August 1 – 9 at Laurence Dumont Stadium.
“I’m just extremely proud for Logan to have such a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Blevins said. “This is something that he along with the rest of our players will be able to talk about for years to come. I can just foresee Logan and the rest of our players telling their future children and grandchildren, ‘Yes, I had the opportunity to play for the NJCAA National Team’ or ‘I played ball with a guy who had the opportunity to play for the NJCAA National team’. This is a big accomplishment for Logan and our program as well.”
Blevins said back in September, Hill was injured and suffered a broken leg.
“Logan was in a horrific collision chasing after a flyball, with Hunter Myrick our right-fielder,” Blevins said. “At that time and with the seriousness of the injury, suffering a broken leg, everyone of us were afraid that we may not get him nor Hunter back for our Spring season. We were all afraid that this could actually be the end of their playing careers. We have truly been blessed to get both of these guys back and for them to have such a good season. It has really been fun to watch Logan and the other sophomores develop over the past two years. Everyone sees the physical abilities and the physical skills that Logan has worked hard to develop, but Logan has developed as a person as well. This is very important to me and the rest of our institution, and I’m certain that coach Bobby Pierce and coach Mark Smartt at Troy University are just as excited to be getting such an individual entering their program. I am confident that he will do extremely well for the National Team this summer. It will be fun to follow his progress during this time.”
Each and every summer the National Baseball Congress World Series serves as a showcase for some of the best amateur baseball players and teams in North America. This year the 80th edition of the tournament is sure to continue that proud tradition, especially with the announcement that a national team will compete for the first time in 15 years.

Fox:
“It has been my dream since I was a little kid to play baseball and so far my dreams are coming true,” Fox said. “It has been such an honor to be moving on and playing. UAH always stood out to me from all the other schools. Huntsville is where I am originally from and my family has never really been able to watch me play these past few years and now they will be able to. Also having some family around will be great. The coaches and players are all very professional and it felt like the place to be when I visited. They are a great program and respected by everyone they play.”
Fox said he hopes to accomplish many great things at the next level.
“I plan to leave an impact on the coaches and players I have the opportunity to play with,” he said. “I also plan to do well enough to continue playing after UAH. JDCC has been great to me. The guys I have had the pleasure of playing with all contributed to where I am now and the opportunity I have been given.
“But most of all coach Blevins has been there for me since day one doing his best to get me to where I need to be to be successful at the next level,” he said. “I thank him for everything he has done and will always carry JD with me wherever I go.”
Fox plans to major in exercise physiology.

Peterson:
“It feels great to sign a scholarship because all of that hard work finally paid off,” he said. “The success of their baseball program and the location of the school is what made me go there. Stillman College is in Tuscaloosa, which is a great college town. I want to go there and win a conference championship.”
While he will be leaving JDCC soon, he has many memories of the school.
“My favorite part about JDCC is the people,” he said. “I have great friends and great teammates.”
Peterson plans to major in physical education.

Jones:
“It feels great to be able to continue my career at another school, and I am excited to get that started,” Jones said. “I know lot of the people that are already at Spring Hill and I knew the coach from the summer team that I played on. I also like the program and the direction that the program is going in. I hope to further my baseball career, as well as getting my college degree.”
Jones said he has liked the way the team has come together.
“I like the camaraderie of the team and how we really grew since the beginning,” he said.
Jones plans to major in business administration.

Marshall:
“It feels good to have the pressure of deciding where I want to play baseball at next year,” Marshall said. “Now I can go out and play the game without having the question lingering in the back of my head. The tradition of winning was a big factor of me making my decision to play at Stillman. Plus one of my good friends signed with me and we had a great time when we went on a visit at the college. I hope to accomplish a lot at the college level, I want to become better and learn more about the game of baseball all while getting a higher education and learning to become a better person.”
Marshall said his favorite part of JDCC would have to be his team.
“When I was deciding where to transfer after my freshman year of college, I sat down and looked at the roster and knew that this was the place for me,” he said. “I grew up playing ball with many of the guys on this team and have nothing but respect for these guys.”
Marshall said he is still deciding as to what he wants to do, but right now his major is between a business degree and a physical education degree.

About Adam Robinson

My name is Adam Robinson and I have been the Sports Editor of the Brewton Standard since September 2007. I cover all the local sports in the Brewton area. I am a 2007 graduate of Troy University with a degree in Print Journalism with a contract in Sports Information. I married Shari Lynn in June of 2007 and we welcomed our first child, Hatlee, in April of 2010.

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