On the NCAA Division I Baseball recruiting calendar, Nov. 6-9 would normally have been a “dead period,” meaning collegiate coaches can have zero in-person contact with high school prospects and parents at their college campus, the athlete’s school, an athletic camp or anywhere.
Not so, however, for junior-college athletes looking to take their next step.
That would include Bayfield High School alum Zane Phelps, who last Wednesday inked an NCAA Division I National Letter of Intent to attend and continue his baseball career at Abilene Christian University in Texas. He will finish the 2017-18 academic/athletic year at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona.
“This is what I planned when I came to Scottsdale,” Phelps said. “To see it unfold and play out exactly how I wanted to, I’m so excited.”
The coaches at ACU have a relationship with the Scottsdale coaches, and that helped Phelps get a look.
“Coach Alex Cherney and coach Jason Stein are men who believe in being apart of athletes’ lives, and the investment is real,” ACU head coach Britt Bonneau said in an email to the Pine River Times, referring to the Scottsdale baseball staff. “Because of this, we have a young man who is ready for the next challenge in his life, and he will be a great asset to Abilene Christian University.”
Cherney, who will begin his 13th season at Scottsdale in the spring of 2018, has had more than 40 players sign letters with D-I schools, and Bonneau indicated Phelps is the type who can rise to that plateau.
“At the D-I level you have to have that mind frame,” he said. “You have to accept every challenge and never accept losing.”
With Phelps and fellow BHS product Taed Heydinger on board in 2017, the Scottsdale Fighting Artichokes went 28-28 overall and 16-24 in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. According to the NJCAA website, Phelps saw action in 44 games, batted .214 (25-for-117) with four doubles, three homers and 26 RBIs and also scored 20 runs while drawing 11 walks and reaching base another seven times via hit-by-pitch.
In his first-ever collegiate appearance, as the starting third baseman in the second game against El Paso, Phelps went 2-for-4 with a double, run and three batted in – helping the ’Chokes to an 11-9 victory.
“I’ve improved immensely,” Phelps said of the last year and a half since graduating from Bayfield in 2016.
“I’ve had so much commitment from my coaches here, and my teammates have helped me grow. All that hard work getting to play non-stop baseball year round has been huge.”
Primarily used defensively as an infielder at the hot corner, however, he was credited with an .835 fielding percentage in 109 total (29 putouts, 62 assists, 18 errors) chances.
“As I watched him play over a few days in Arizona, I noticed he never changed,” said Bonneau.
“If he got a big hit or failed at the plate he would continue pressing forward and attacking the next challenge.”
There will be plenty of those awaiting Phelps at ACU, part of the 13-team Southland Conference.
“The one thing we look for when recruiting student-athletes to ACU is character,” said Bonneau.
“We want men who stand up for what they believe in, and carry themselves in a professional manner in any situation.”
Phelps, who will study marketing and communications, said Abilene is a small town compared to what he has experienced in Arizona. He is ready to get back in a community that feels more like Bayfield, even though Abilene is much larger.
“Everyone is super nice over there,” he said. “The program hasn’t had a whole lot of success during its transition to Division I, but they signed a bunch of guys this year and we’re all excited.”
Durango Herald sports editor John Livingston contributed to this report.
