by Rusty Ellis
Upperman senior southpaw Wyatt Curtis made his commitment to East Tennessee State University official on Wednesday, as he signed to play baseball for the Buccaneers upon graduation.
Curtis says playing collegiate baseball has always been a goal of his, and it was an exciting time for him to finally make the commitment official on Wednesday.
“I’m very excited,” Curtis said. “I’m excited for this last season of high school ball, and then to go on and play college ball, it’s a dream come true for me…the first time I was on campus, they had a set way of doing things that lined up with how I thought a good coaching staff should (do things). The pitching coach and I have a very close bond, so that helped a lot.”
On a day where two Upperman Bees signed, UHS head coach Wes Shanks had a lot to say as far as praising his two senior signees.
Shanks also mentions how know that they’ve signed, they get the opportunity to be the go-to guys for the team.
“I’m excited to have them,” Shanks said of his two seniors. “They are two critical components to our team…They have a 79-32 record. You could tell from their freshmen year to now, the competitive nature and talent-level has been there. Between Caden Shanks and Wyatt Curtis, they haven’t had to be that number one because of (who we’ve had), so now they get that chance.”
Shanks went on to talk about how both players are team-first guys and are willing to do whatever it takes to help the team succeed.
“I think that’s a reason we’ve been successful is because of players like these two,” Shanks said. “That’s just a testament to both the program and those two, because they’ve become leaders within this program. That’s really exciting for us.”
Curtis says he’ll miss his teammates and coaches in Baxter, and that he’s looking forward to new challenges at the Division I level,
“Just having fun every day and going up to the field with them every day,” Curtis said. “I’m just excited to get to the next level and pursue baseball. I think I’m ready for it.”
