The Transy Tribune goes beyond the game to tell the stories of Transylvania student-athletes in their own words. From the moments that shape them to the passions, people and experiences that define life beyond their sport, this is their perspective, their journey and their story — told by them.


Dear Freshman Baxter,

You've made it. The thing that you dreamed about your whole life, you finally are a college baseball player. Every practice, lesson, road trip, and extra rep helped bring you here. But understand this, too: reaching college baseball does not mean the game gets easier. In some ways, it is about to challenge you more than ever. If I could sit down with you at the start of freshman year, I would not tell you exactly how the next two seasons go. That would take away too much of the experience. I would tell you what I have learned about loving the game without letting it define you, staying steady through the highs and lows, and turning pressure into an opportunity.

First, remember that you are playing a game. It is not just any game. You grew up hearing stories about Dad playing at Kentucky, watching your cousins compete in high school and college, and now seeing one of them reach Major League Baseball. Baseball has always been close to your heart. Just do not hold it so tightly that it becomes your whole identity. Think about when you were six and Mom and Dad signed us up for machine- pitch with the older kids before we were even supposed to be playing at that level. Nothing could take away our excitement. We were getting to play a game with our friends, and the best part might have been the free soda from the concession stand after the game.

That season, we struck out in every at-bat until the very last one. Then, finally, the ball came off the bat. After all those strikeouts, that one moment made us feel on top of the world. We did not worry about what the coach thought, what the parents thought, what our teammates thought, or what anyone might say online. Six-year-old us understood something that is easy to forget now: baseball matters, but it is still a game. Do not let worrying about the result take away the reason you started playing in the first place.

Second, do not get too high or too low. Over the next two years, there will be moments when you feel unstoppable and others when you feel as if you cannot do anything right. Neither feeling lasts forever. If you cling too tightly to the highs, you will create expectations that are almost impossible to meet. If you let the lows convince you that they are permanent, it becomes harder to climb out of them. Stay grounded. Keep showing up. Let one at-bat, one error, one great game, or one difficult stretch be exactly what it is: one part of a much bigger story. There will be times when baseball feels heavier than it should. You may even wonder if you still love it. That is when you need to lean on your coaches and teammates instead of trying to fix everything by yourself. They will challenge you, pick you up, and remind you that everybody in the dugout has been through it. If you keep working through the fall, the spring can bring more joy than you have ever experienced on a baseball field: the hits, the plays, your first college home run, and a second-team all-conference honor. Those things will mean a lot, but what will matter even more is knowing you earned them by staying with it when the game was not being kind to you. Baseball has a way of rewarding the work, even if it is not always on your schedule.

Finally, learn to see pressure as an opportunity, not a promise. After you have some success, you are going to want to do it again right away. You will start creating expectations for what the next season should look like. The problem is that baseball does not care about your expectations. You can square a ball up and hit it right at somebody. You can do everything right and still make an out. You can prepare well and still have a bad day. What you can control is the work. You can lift, hit, take your reps, study the game, be a good teammate, and compete. You can trust the time you have put in and walk to the plate believing you belong there. Pressure does not have to feel like something sitting on your shoulders. Most of the time, pressure just means you are in a moment that matters. Take a breath and go compete.

I know that right now, hearing "it is just a game" probably sounds wrong. Playing college baseball is everything you have dreamed about. But the sooner you realize that your worth is bigger than your batting average, your spot in the lineup, or what happened in your last at-bat, the more freedom you will have to actually enjoy the game. When the game starts to feel too heavy, remember the six-year-old who kept stepping into the box, even after strikeout after strikeout, and still left the park thinking about friends and a concession-stand soda. That kid did not know anything about expectations, stats, or pressure. That kid simply loved to play. Baseball may be just a game, but that does not mean it is without purpose. At Transylvania, it will teach you resilience, perspective, confidence, and the importance of trusting the people beside you. It will give you friendships, memories, and lessons that last far beyond the final out. Just make sure you step back often enough to notice them.

Keep working. Trust your guys. And never lose the part of you that just loves to play.

You are going to be all right.

Baxter

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