Making the grade

Ron Counts, Staff Writer
Published: November 21, 2008

“All I’m gonna do is play baseball and do school work.”

That is the declaration Brandon Mack made to his father as an eighth-grader.

“At first, I was like ‘yeah, right’,” James Mack said. “But now I’m so proud of him. It just goes to show that if you take care of business on the field and in the classroom, good things will happen.”

The 18-year-old senior at Eastern View made good on his promise Tuesday by signing an official letter of intent to play baseball at Chowan University in Murfreesboro, N.C. next fall.

“I’m just really happy to know where I’m going next year,” said Mack, who boasts a 3.0 GPA. “It’s stressful between your 11th- and 12th-grade years. You’re like, ‘when is the opportunity going to be there?’ ”

Mack also garnered interest from Potomac State University, St. Mary’s College and Bridgewater but he said the size of Chowan’s student body and the contact he had with pitching coach Taylor Furlough convinced him to become a Hawk.

“Coach Furlough was probably the most aggressive coach I had contact with,” said Mack, who is expected to start at third base for the Cyclones in the spring. “And I really like Chowan’s small campus. The student-to-teacher ratio is only about 14 to one, so there’s a lot of one-on-one time, which is something I like.”

Mack began playing baseball at his father’s request at the tender age of five, and he has never looked back.

He has covered the hot corner for the Blue Devils for the past two seasons, and he’s excited about doing the same during his senior year at Eastern View. He wasn’t just on the diamond during the school year, though.

Mack said playing for Culpeper’s American Legion Post 330 team, the Central Virginia Sting and the Mid-Atlantic Mets in the offseason has gone a long way toward preparing him for life as a college baseball player.

“Summer teams are usually made up of the best players from around here,” he said. “So summer baseball lets you see how you stack up against the best players, and it helps you get ready for the speed of the college game, because everything is quicker in college.”

Mack has stacked up pretty well against some stiff competition. He was playing with the Sting during the fall of his junior year when they came up against the ultra-talented Richmond Braves’ under-18 team.

Many high-school athletes would probably be pretty nervous stepping up to the plate against such an accomplished team, especially with the game on the line. But not Mack, he simply stepped into the batter’s box with the game in the balance and delivered a game-winning grand slam home run.

“It does a lot for your confidence to know that you can play with the best guys,” Mack said. “It lets you know that your hard work is paying off. You’re getting there, you’re getting better.”

Mack said he is considering majoring in history or business at Chowan, but right now he knows it’s time to get down to the business of getting ready to compete at the college level.

“I’m really relieved to have signed but I know there’s still work to do,” he said. “I feel like my defense is definitely a strength, but most batters at the college level have plenty of power and that’s something I need to work on.”

Ron Counts can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 166 or

Facts about Chowan

Location: Murfreesboro, N.C.
Founded: In 1848 as a Christian educational
institution
Students: 1,000
undergraduates
Athletics: Division-II, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association