By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Another local athlete has made his decision on where to take his talents for the next level. In a May 15 ceremony in the MEAC in Manchester, Greyhounds senior Luke Applegate signed his letter of intent to continue his baseball career at Shawnee State University.
Applegate has been a multi-sport athlete at Manchester and a four-year member of the baseball squad. Over those four years, he produced a batting average of .395 with 41 extra-base hits, including 34 doubles, four triples and 3 home runs. Applegate also doubled as the Greyhounds’ pitching ace, going 8-7 for his career with an ERA of 3.13. The right hander struck out 224 hitters over his high school career, spanning 125.1 innings pitched.
On why he chose Shawnee State as his college choice, Applegate said. “It was just close to home and I wanted to stay close to home and I can still live at our house and commute.We’ll have lifting at 6 a.m. so I’ll be getting up pretty early. Shawnee just had their best season in history and I’ve learned a lot from Coach Meade’s brother (Seth) who was on the team.”
“The thing I’ll probably remember most about high school sports is just having fun with my friends. My biggest highlight was likely my walk off home run last year against Whiteoak, that was a big moment that helped us win the SHAC title. My summer coaches have really pushed me hard and my parents have always been behind me.”
Applegate’s coach for the last two seasons, both of which resulted in small school championships in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, has been Trey Meade, who definitely comes from a family with a baseball bloodline.
“ Luke has really been the backbone of our program for the last couple of seasons,” said Coach Meade. “First one in, last one out. He’s just a great kid who works hard and loves the game and I’m super excited for him. The way he approaches baseball from day to day sets a real good example of what we want our program to be.”
Applegate plans to study Education at Shawnee with the plan of going into Intervention.
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