Medford's Baptiste 'blessed' by collegiate honor
Wyatt Baptiste was mainly looking for a quality Southern California environment to complete his college baseball career. What he found this past year at Westcliff University was much more than the Medford native ever dreamed possible after two years at Chemeketa Community College.
By Kris Henry of the Mail Tribune
Wyatt Baptiste was mainly looking for a quality Southern California environment to complete his college baseball career.
What he found this past year at Westcliff University was much more than the Medford native ever dreamed possible after two years at Chemeketa Community College.
On Friday, Baptiste saw his first year end with the highest honor he could imagine when he was named Westcliff's Male Athlete of the Year during a ceremony in Irvine, California.
"I just felt super blessed and was just humbled to be recognized as the top male athlete at Westcliff because there are a lot of different sports teams there and a lot of different athletes," said the 21-year-old center fielder. "To be recognized as the best one this year, I was just super happy to be awarded that. It's kind of nice seeing all my hard work that I've put in over the years pay off and get recognized with that honor."
The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder was one of five finalists for the honor at the NAIA university, with the others being Josh Glover (men's soccer), Jacob Knox (men's basketball), Jacob Vander Beek (men's volleyball) and Eddie Miranda (men's cross country/track & field).
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