Having a chance to attend your first choice of colleges is exciting enough for any high school student. Getting some money to play baseball there? Even better.
Indian Creek junior Dustin Sprong had all of the pieces fall into place for him this week when he gave a verbal commitment to play at Xavier University.
“It was unbelievable. I don’t think I could explain it in words. I’ve never really had a dream come true, and it did right then, and it was such an unreal feeling.”
Sprong said it took him just a couple of hours to accept after the Musketeers made him an offer.
Xavier, a member of the Big East Conference, had been in touch with Sprong since last summer. He had attended a camp there in the fall and taken two other visits to the campus.
“Every time I went there I seemed to like it more and more,” Sprong said. “Everybody was really nice, the campus was beautiful and the facilities were great. Once they gave me that offer, I knew that it just felt like the right place.”
After the Musketeer coaches came to watch him pitch in an April 17 win over Shelbyville — Sprong struck out 12 in just five innings, scattering four hits — they were just as sold on the player as he was on them.
Sprong becomes the second Braves pitcher to accept a Division I offer, joining classmate Trevor Ankney (Purdue).
“It definitely lets people know that Indian Creek baseball is the real deal,” coach Steve Mirizzi said.
Sprong is 2-0 with a 1.88 earned-run average and 34 strikeouts on the mound, and he went into Thursday’s game against Brown County batting .370.
