Northmor senior Drew Hammond, pictured with his family, signs to play baseball for the University of Findlay.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
After finishing his senior year at Northmor High School, Drew Hammond will move on to the University of Findlay, where he will compete on the baseball team.
Hammond recently signed with Findlay — a decision he didn’t find difficult to make.
“It’s a familiar campus because we played there for basketball a bunch of years,” he said. “I liked the coaching staff there. I just had a good feeling and it felt like it was the right place for me to go. After I made a couple visits and I visited multiple schools, it was a pretty easy decision. It seemed like the right way to go.”
He added that being able to meet the team’s players and coaches played a major role in his decision.
“Just meeting the players and coaches and seeing what they want out of players and what they expect and stuff,” he said. “It just seemed like it was the right choice.”
Hammond will major in nursing while at Findlay. He gives a lot of credit to both his high school and summer ball coaches for helping him to improve his game to the degree he was able to sign with a Division II program.
“Between team bonding and having a good coaching staff here at my high school and my summer ball coaches,” he said. “They just helped me to develop my game and understand it a lot more.”
To be a college contributor, though, he feels he’ll have to continue working to improve various facets of his game.
“I’m going to have to get in the weight room more and focus more on pitching because that’s what I’m going for,” he said.
Hammond did note that he hopes that being able to just focus on pitching and not also playing a position in the field should help him in that aspect.
“If I’m approaching on one thing, it should improve a lot faster instead of also focusing on hitting and grinding the baseball,” he said. “I’m just focusing on pitching, so it should improve faster than it normally would.”
Hammond has enjoyed his time at Northmor, mentioning going a long distance in the tournament and being part of the team for four years as highlights. However, he feels there will be a lot to look forward to while in college.
“Meeting new players and coaches — it’s going to be pretty fun,” he said. “Being on my own is going to be interesting and fun. It’ll be nice. And the competition’s a lot harder. It’ll be fun to push myself.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
