Mount Gilead graduate Carter Kennon (front row, middle) will play baseball for Defiance College next spring.
Courtesy Photo
After a senior year at Mount Gilead that saw him recover from injury during the fall in order to be able to compete during the winter and spring, Carter Kennon will move on to Defiance College where he will play baseball for the Division III university.
Kennon, who will major in sports management, missed out on his senior year of football due to injury, but was able to recover and compete in both basketball and baseball — something which he was grateful to be able to do.
“It was kind of bumming to miss the whole football season, but it was kind of the decision I had to make if I wanted to play in college or not,” he said. “Physical therapy was tough. It was just a long process. I came back early, though, and got to play some basketball, so that was great.”
At Defiance, Kennon expects to see action in the middle infield. While, he noted that it wasn’t a quick process for him to choose his college, he liked his experiences with Defiance.
“Just the community and their head coach just dragged me in,” he said. “He really helped me with the process and getting my tuition down and stuff. It was just a good process with him. It (the college search) was pretty long. I had a lot of interest for football, too, so it was kind of just football and baseball, but Defiance was there.”
After his freshman season of baseball was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennon was a three-year starter for the Indians. For him to earn that sort of playing time at Defiance, he feels he’ll have to raise his level of performance.
“I’ll definitely have to put in a lot more effort than what I have been doing,” he said. “I do work a lot. I don’t go a day without hitting, but I feel at the college level, everyone is around the same talent level. There’s nobody that’s good or bad, so I have to get used to that.”
Kennon is excited about starting a new chapter of his life at Defiance.
“Just meeting new people,” he said. “Especially since being in Mount Gilead my whole life, living in town, so I’m just glad to see some new faces and play some baseball.”
However, there will be a lot of things he’ll miss about being at Mount Gilead.
“I’ll definitely miss knowing everybody around,” he said. “Going through the hallways and just knowing everybody walking around and just the close-knit community.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
