6 years of playing college baseball and now the end of the road is finally here. I started my college career at The University of Akron, where I started 11 of the 13 games until Covid-19 came along and ended our season. That was the Spring of 2020 and after I was home for a little bit, I decided that I did not want to go back and continue playing in Ohio. I decided to transfer to a Junior College about 20 minutes away from my home. But while I was at this school, I was severely depressed. I was a 19 year old who was living at home and I had success at a division 1 school and now I was struggling at a Junior College. I ended my sophomore year only playing in 3 games and with statistics that you could only be embarrassed about. I thought my baseball career was going to be over and I was just another one of the bunch that could not survive college athletics. But that Summer I made a promise to myself that I will not let someone else decide when my career was over, I was going to be the one and I would go on my own terms. I spent the whole summer of 2021 in the gym and at the field, trying to perfect my craft and be the player I was supposed to be. My third year of college I transferred to another Junior College. And this is where I started to find myself again. I was able to get out of my shell and shine on and off the field and had a good season that rewarded me a scholarship at Hawaii Pacific University. At HPU, I came in as a sophomore technically because of the weird Covid-19 restrictions and Junior College rules. It is hard to explain but to me it meant that my career got to be extended for an extra 2 years. My first year at HPU, I played in about 70% of the games as a starter and was a bottom of the lineup hitter but I hit .320 avg. with a .400 on base percentage. It was a rough year for our team but the following year was more exciting. I ended the year with a .310 avg while playing in every single game and leading the team with home runs and getting my first All-Conference award. That year we made the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. But as the story is written, this year has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Going in knowing that it is my final year comes with some extra pressure. I was named captain of the team and as a leader of this team I just wanted to lead my team in the right direction. But as time went on, I realized that I am not the same player I was the past 2 years. I am older and more mature, but also have more wear and tear on my body and I don’t have the same explosiveness. But that is no excuse. I was never a college baseball player because I was good at baseball, it is because I am a competitor and I refuse to lose. I went from being the home run leader last year to now a guy that is in the lineup to do my job and help the people around me be successful. I have played in every game this year and our offense is the best in the conference and we are on our way to making another playoff run. I am fortunate enough to have had the college career that I have had and to have an extended college career. Most of my highschool teammates were done after 4 years and I am the lucky one who got to have a 6 year career. But like every athlete, the ending is inevitably near and I am doing the best I can to avoid that ending. But for now I am playing for the love of the game.
