The Lakeland Hawks baseball team is on the rise this year, surpassing last year’s win total with a dominant win over the Sandpoint Bulldogs 14-1. Senior Jace Cooksey, who has signed to play college baseball at Arizona Christian University, a NAIA school in Glendale, Arizona, is contributing to this win.
Cooksey has been on the varsity roster since his sophomore year after getting the call-up just a couple of games into the season, and he has contributed behind the plate at catcher ever since.
After receiving multiple offers from some smaller junior colleges, which are two-year colleges, he wanted that four-year experience.
“I chose it because it seemed like the best fit for me: the culture there is awesome because everyone knows everyone. It is a smaller school, so it’s like having a big family; the baseball team is full of a bunch of great guys, so that helps,” Cooksey said.
Cooksey has a massive impact on his younger teammates as well. Sophomore Hunter Avriett just got the call-up from the junior varsity team to the varsity team, and he is already making an impact.
“Yes, 100 percent. Jace Cooksey, when doing our catching drills, he is good about leading and advising us on what to properly do and how to do it,” Avriett said.
Avriett has also been able to improve his blocking quality tremendously behind the plate and has started his fair share of games on the varsity roster since being pulled up.
“Jace has given me the opportunity to work on my blocking, which has improved my ability immensely since moving up to varsity,” Avriett said.
Even though ACU may be far away, Coosey is not afraid of making that journey and having to leave his family.
“I’m not too scared to leave home because it is not like I’ll never see my friends and family again. It is just a new chapter of life that everyone goes through,” Cooksey said.
Cooksey will be playing under Firestorm head coach Joe Mcdonald. In his five seasons as the head coach, he has a combined record of 157-100.
Cooksey is not 100 percent sure about what he is studying, but he is doing general studies and has thought of majoring in business.
The Lakeland Hawks’ next game is April 23, against the Lewiston Bengals.