Varsity Baseball Team Wins Another 3A State Title, but That’s Just Part of the Story…

Beginning on New Year’s Day, while most students are enjoying the holiday, Wesleyan’s varsity baseball team begins preparation for their upcoming season. For these student-athletes, this kind of commitment is a sacrifice worth making, and on Saturday, May 19, their perseverance and determination paid off as they were once again crowned the NCISAA 3A State Champions for the third consecutive year. Under the leadership of Coach Scott Davis, the Trojans took their 10th trip to the championship tournament in 16 seasons with making the finals four other times.  The team is currently ranked No. 15 nationally according to MaxPreps.  The High Point Enterprise (HPE) reported that “Seven seniors – Mark McLamb, Jackson Prillaman, Jacob Kohns, Brett Kerry, Koty Proctor, Nick Caldwell and Justin Payseur – were instrumental in keeping the program at the forefront after it won the previous two state championships.” Coach Davis appreciates the hard work of the team and is thrilled that they won their third straight title as he said, “Our program has been tremendous for quite some time.  We’ve got great students, a tremendous administration led by Tim Rickman and Glen Foster, and a new facility we’ve got going in, which is going to be state of the art.”  Coach Davis has been at Wesleyan for 16 years and says that “it’s been the joy of his life to be able to coach these kids and work for a tremendous organization and administration…to see kids like this reach their goals and their dreams, it’s really, really a blessing for me to be here.” Scott is an awesome coach, and we are blessed with his coaching skills and leadership of the program.

Beyond the obvious successes of our program, there is something unique about the character of this group of student-athletes.  Not only do we enjoy the benefits of a nationally recognized program, more importantly, these players seek opportunities to make a greater impact by serving and ministering to others. Recently I learned that seniors, Jackson Prillaman, Nick Caldwell, and Anthony Alexander along with high school junior, David Griffin, III befriended a homeless man (named Jack) over a year ago who is often seen on Wendover Avenue in Greensboro. After the boys and some of their parents spoke with Jack and found that he was genuinely hurting and in urgent need, these students determined this school year that they were going to do more than just provide him a handout. They bought him a coat, gloves, blankets, food and other items so that he would be better taken care of during the winter. Next, one of the students and his parents arranged for him to go to a hotel room so that he could shower and rest.  They then brought Jack to one of the Wesleyan baseball games and enjoyed hanging out with him afterward. Helping this gentleman was not an activity led by the school but something these students initiated on their own. They made a conscious decision early on that they were going to help Jack on an ongoing and consistent basis.

Another outreach that some of the team members have been a part of this year is the Breakfast Buddies program at a nearby local Title 1 school (Parkview Elementary). This is a wonderful weekly early morning program that nearly 50 high school students take part in as they travel, on their own, to Parkview to help children with their homework, reading assignments, or just providing support. Athlete, Jackson Prillaman became connected to his Breakfast Buddy and invited him to several of Wesleyan’s ball games, including taking him out to eat with the team afterward.

These are just a few examples of how athletes at Wesleyan make a daily impact on our community. These boys and so many other untold accounts make us proud of not only their incredible achievements but for stepping up into leadership roles and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with those in need. God has indeed blessed us with amazing students!

Dr. Rob Brown
Head of School