It’s been a good last month for Eupora baseball and the future of three young men and their careers as the Eagles had Cade Adkins, Parker Knight and Carter May sign scholarship papers for the next level.
Adkins signed with Blue Mountain College a few weeks ago and Knight signed with Holmes. On Friday morning, May finished off the trio of signings by joining Knight in Goodman with the Bulldogs.
It was an extra special moment for May and Knight families as the two are cousins and have played baseball together most of their lives. Now, they get a chance to continue together down the same path of Parker’s brother and former Eagle Tanner Knight, a standout pitcher at Louisiana Tech this season.
“It’s what we work for our whole life. It’s what you dream of as a kid and why you play. Now that it’s finally happening, it’s awesome,” May said. “Me and Parker have always talked about playing together and now it’s happening. Tanner set a good example for us coming up. It’s just fun and awesome for our grandparents and parents to see us play two more years and maybe more. It’s awesome.”
May has been a big part of the Eagles program dating back tohis freshman year on campus. The middle infielder has a career .331 bating average with 41 hits, 44 RBI, 11 doubles, four home runs and three triples. His sophomore year was his best as he batted .451 with 23 hits and 25 RBI. He was on pace to have a great year as a junior before the pandemic ended the season as he had eight hits and 12 RBI in just 11 games.
On top of that, May has thrown in 18 games over the years with 41.0 innings pitched, a 4.27 ERA and 42 strikeouts. Head coach Cole McBride has watched May grow over the years and he’s seen a player that puts in the extra time to make himself better, but also his team.
“He’s a selfless guy and an extremely hard worker. He’s there before practice and he’s there after,” McBride said. “He’s a tireless worker that deserves everything coming to him.”
Next year, May will be taking his talents to the Goodman campus to play for coach Scott Deloach and the Bulldogs. It’s year one this season for Deloach and he’s in the process of building his own program there.
One things that stuck out to May was the coach and his vision and the program lined up with what the talented player was looking for on the next level.
“I really like the new coach, coach Deloach. And I’ve always stalked to my dad about being a part of a program turning it around,” May said. “They’ve struggled in the past and we want to help turn it around.”
With the decisions made of the three senior players, it’s now time for those standouts to put it all on the line in their final year.
McBride is hoping for more signees to come but for now he’s proud of the players for seeing dreams come true. He’s also seeing them go to work early on this season to leave a lasting impression for the Eagles’ program.
“Hard work pays off. That’s something that they want to do and their dream to play on the next level. If you want to go play and put the work in and want it bad enough, anything is possible,” McBride said. “For those guys to do that and the younger guys to see them do that, it’s a big thing. I’m excited for all three of those guys that have signed so far and I’m hoping for more.”
