Five Fannin County Rebel baseball players signed scholarships to further their education and play baseball at the collegiate level Friday, December 13. Hunter Gray, Gabe Buchanan, Blake Rogers, Carson Beavers and Matthew Shirah signed scholarships with four different schools.
Head baseball coach Travis Stone spoke on each of the signees, talking about their work ethic and how proud he was to watch them become men.
Gray was the first to sign, as he chose to play for Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Gray, who played first base for the Rebels will help the Bisons with his glove and his ability to hit the ball. Stone said, “There were a lot of guys that came after Hunter, but Hunter held true that he was going to Lipscomb and that’s the commitment that he made. The thing that made me be able to sleep at night was I knew all we had to do was be able to field it (the ball) and turn it loose, because I knew he (Hunter) was going to get it. At any time Hunter could walk up to the plate and hit a grand slam.”
Buchanan and Rogers were the next Rebels to sign scholarships as they chose to sign with Reinhardt University. Stone said, “Gabe is consistent. I felt like any game we played we were going to get two or three hits out of Gabe.” Stone said about Rogers, “His personality is infectious. When the going gets tough, he is ready to go. We called on him a number of times last year to shut the door on ball games and I don’t think he missed an opportunity.”
Beavers chose to head East and sign with Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Stone complimented Beavers saying, “He (Beavers) took on a role last year, stepped on that mound and did a heck of a job and ended up being Pitcher of the Year for Region 7-AAA.”
The last Rebel to sign was Shirah, who chose to further his academic and athletic career at the United States Naval Academy.
Stone spoke highly of Shirah, saying, ”Matthew has a tremendous work ethic and it doesn’t just show on the baseball field it shows in the classroom as well. You don’t just show up at Navy and they say come on. He’s number one in his class, he takes care of business in the classroom and is a leader on the field.”