On Tuesday, June 1, 2021, Council Rock South seniors Blake Booth, Ryan Wheet & Brandon Purdy were recognized for committing to continue their baseball careers at the collegiate level.
Blake Booth – Alvernia University (Baseball)
Major: Finance
Reasons for choosing Alvernia: “I liked the school itself, the campus was really nice, and there are a lot of opportunities for me to succeed there. They have a really nice finance program and a lot of options down the road, which will help me in the future, and their baseball program is very successful. I enjoy the coaching staff and all the facilities they have to offer.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in baseball at the collegiate level? “I started playing baseball when I was four years old, and I’ve been playing ever since. My goal was to play college baseball, and I reached that goal.”
Coach Greg Paprocki says: “Blake is a leader by example, doing all the little things right whether it’s in the classroom or on the baseball field. The first day I was working the guys out – I saw Blake doing the little details right. He’s a real detail-oriented athlete. He takes care of all the little stuff, and that’s going to go a really, really long way in his college career. When you take care of the little details, that’s going to take you so far as an athlete and as a person too. When I think of Blake, I’ll forever think of leader by example and doing things the right way – showing respect to the coaches, showing up on time, doing the little things right. Blake’s an awesome player and an awesome kid. Congratulations, Blake, you’re going to do awesome.”
About Blake:
Favorite food: Buffalo Chicken Cheesesteak
Favorite TV show: Criminal Minds
Favorite artist: Blake Shelton
Brandon Purdy – York College (Baseball)
Major: Management
Final list of colleges: York, Temple, Maryland
Reasons for choosing York: “I wanted to play baseball, and I figured York would be the school if I wanted to play baseball. I realized with the COVID year I didn’t want to end my career this early.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in baseball at the collegiate level? “It started in high school because I wasn’t very good until high school. Sophomore year I started to get better and saw I could compete in high school and compete with these guys.”
Coach Greg Paprocki says: “When I think of Brandon, I think of responding to adversity. I threw Brandon into the fire at the beginning of this year, pretty much threw into every bad situation you could imagine – bases loaded no outs, bases loaded one out. At the beginning of the year, I just turned to Brandon, and the reason I did that is because I knew he could handle it. Brandon is not afraid of the moment. He’s a competitor, and he always went out and did the best he could for his team. He struggled a little bit at the beginning of the year, but just the way he responded to those struggles says so much about his character. I wouldn’t really call it struggles, but the ball didn’t bounce his way sometimes. He blamed it on himself, but in reality, it wasn’t his fault – you get really unlucky sometimes. As a competitor, he put it on himself and just continued to work every single day. I watched him develop his craft. Towards the end of the season, every single big game he was getting the ball, and he deserved that because he worked towards that. He developed himself as a pitcher and grew as a player. Congratulations, Brandon, you’re an awesome competitor and an awesome person.
Brandon says:
Favorite food: Chicken
Favorite TV show: 60 Days In
Favorite music: Rap
Ryan Wheet – Fairleigh Dickinson University (Baseball)
Major: Cyber Security/Computer Science
Final list of colleges: Fairleigh Dickinson, North Carolina Central University, Lincoln University, Goldey-Beacom, West Chester
Reasons for choosing Fairleigh Dickinson: “In my baseball career, I really had a dream to go D-1 and just see how far my talent could really take me. Fairleigh Dickinson is a beautiful campus and has a beautiful field. I really got to know the coach, and he’s really hoping to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. He’s rebuilding the whole roster and trying to create a culture, and I just want to build a legacy with FDU.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in baseball at the collegiate level? “I’ve been playing baseball since I was four years old from Trenton to moving here - just really having fun and always loving my teammates and loving the game. Throughout my high school career and over the summer, I was like – I really want to take this to the next level, so that’s when I decided to try and get recruited and play as much baseball as I could to really see how far I could take it.”
Coach Greg Paprocki says: “I think everyone who watched Ryan play knows that he’s an incredible athlete, but I think the person sticks out to me even more. Ryan was just respectful to me since day one - especially as a young coach who could be running off around like a chicken with his head cut off sometimes, but Ryan always showed me respect. Every time I gave him advice he was always eye to eye, and I think that says a lot about a person – how they respond to a coach. No matter if it was an assistant coach or the head coach, Ryan always cared about what we were saying and he tried to implement it. It’s very easy to talk about the home runs or how good a base runner he is, but who you are as a person – it’s going to take you so much farther. Ryan’s an incredible person, everybody loves him, and he’s an awesome kid to coach. Congratulations, Ryan. It was absolutely a great thing to coach you this year. I was so lucky to have a kid like you my first year at the helm.”
About Ryan:
Favorite food: Wings
Favorite movie: White Men Can’t Jump
Favorite artist: J Cole
All SuburbanOneSports.com articles (or portion of articles) can be turned into keepsakes. For information, please click on the following link:https://www.suburbanonesports.com/article/content/turn-online-features-keepsake-posters-0086874
- Log in to post comments
