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View Full Version : Columbia, Brazosport baseball players sign to play on college level



Scoop27
02-06-2020, 08:08 AM
From The Brazosport Facts

Two Brazosport Exporters and two Columbia Roughnecks joined in National Singing Day by committing to play college baseball Wednesday.

Brazosport pitcher Tanner Quick will take his skills to a big stage after signing with to North Carolina to play for the Tar Heels. Nationally ranked year in and year out, Quick is heading to a program that routinely produces major league players.

“I know it is going to be tough, but I am always up to a challenge,” Quick said. “I look forward to being around people as good or better than me, and I think it will push me to get better. I look forward to see what it brings my way.”

At 6-foot-8 and a left-hander on the mound, Quick is coming off a 4-6 season with a 2.19 ERA and 106 strikeouts. His decision to go to North Carolina came into focus last summer.

“My dad told me kind of when we were going to the visits to take my time and know where I wanted to go,” Quick said. “I took quite a while and really thought about it and North Carolina is where I want to be. Whether I am playing baseball or not, that is where I want to be at.”

The Tar Heels come into the season ranked No. 23.

One of his teammates, Kristian Gillchriest, also made it official and will head to Sterling College in Kansas.

For Columbia, Kameron Craig will stay close to home after signing at the University of St. Thomas and Ethan Fernandez will head out of state to Missouri Valley College.

The desire to play collegiate baseball anywhere he could led Gillchriest to the NAIA Sterling Warriors in Sterling, .
For Columbia, Kameron Craig will stay close to home after signing at the University of St. Thomas and Ethan Fernandez will head out of state to Missouri Valley College.

The desire to play collegiate baseball anywhere he could led Gillchriest to the NAIA Sterling Warriors in Sterling, Kansas.

“Their coach had texted me and told me to go on a visit and tryout,” Gillchriest said. “I tried out and he really like what he saw last October. I did infield drills at third, took to the cages and did some bullpen work. They liked my location accuracy and my curveball had a good bite to it. I topped out at 82 mph there.”

The Warriors play in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and at times travel to Texas for games. For Gillchriest, he knew it would be a good fit.

“I have two friends from travel ball that are playing there now,” he said. “They told me about the community and just about everything that I needed to know.”

Craig was hooked on his visit to St. Thomas from the outset.

“Coach invited me on campus and I saw all the new facilities that they were building,” Craig said. “I saw the new stadium and realized how close it was, which just worked out for me. The coaches were awesome and Carlos Correa was at practice yesterday, so they have all those resources and they play a lot of good teams.”

He also had interest from Southwestern University in Georgetown and Trinity University in San Antonio.

“This is a dream come true. As soon as we left the St. Thomas campus, I just told my mom that my prayers have been answered,” Craig said.

A catcher/pitcher for the Roughnecks, Craig understands St. Thomas is fielding a baseball team for the first time since 1969. He wants to help build the program any way he can.
I could always throw hard off the mound, but I am trying to learn to be more of a pitcher than just a thrower, which right now is the biggest thing for me,” he said. “I know it is a big mental thing and you don’t always have to try to blow it by and throw 100, so hitting the spots is just as good.”

A member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, St. Thomas is where Craig wants to be.

“I just like the competition, and the conference that they are in is probably the best there is D-III,” Craig said.

Located in Marshall, Missouri, Fernandez found out about the program through a friend.

“My friend Blake (Perry) goes there and we’ve known each other since we were 7 years old,” Fernandez said. “He just told me that they have a good baseball program and they take care of their players there. Plus, it is one of the top conferences in the state.”

Perry, a Brazoswood alum, is a right-handed pitcher with the Vikings.

An NAIA program, Fernandez doesn’t care where he goes as long as he gets on the field. Last season for Columbia, he played catcher, pitcher, third and first base.

“With my catching, I have an arm and can throw out any runner from my knees, and with my pitching, I am pretty consistent at 86 mph,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez had some interest for a couple of JUCO programs in Texas, but decided instead to go out of state, he said.