Baseball
Favorite athlete: Trevor Story
Favorite team: Colorado Rockies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Playing in the state baseball game for Central Bucks East in 2024
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I was a freshman for East, in a league game against Pennridge, I hit a ball “over the fence.” I ran around the bases and the umps called it a home run, then they called it a double. Was funny as a freshman on varsity
Music on playlist: Country only
Future plans: Play baseball and study business management at the University of Binghamton
Words to live by: “Don’t suck, and don’t be average.” This is what my brother and dad always tell me
One goal before turning 30: To not be done playing baseball
One thing people don’t know about me: I listen to the same song – “American Kids” by Kenny Chesney -- every night before I go to bed to calm me down
By GORDON GLANTZ
Chase Fulford.
It just sounds like a baseball player, doesn’t it?
“And that’s exactly what he is,” confirmed his coach at Central Bucks East, Kyle Dennis. “He’s just a ballplayer.”
Dennis, well into his second decade of coaching the Patriots, went on to add that Fulford has left an indelible print on the program.
And it goes beyond the diamond.
“I have been at this a long time, and he’s right there on the list of the favorite players that I’ve had in my career,” said Dennis. “And that’s not just for his athletic talents. He’s just a great human being – a great human being who happens to 
also be really athletic and who works really hard.
“I’ve had some really good players, and most of my players have been great human beings as well. He is just a really cool combination of both.”
An example of Fulford’s unique maturity and empathy for others came at the end of this past season, which was a bit of a down year for the Patriots.
“Our last game was a nonleague game (against Holy Ghost Prep), and we were going to play a lot of our seniors that didn’t get a lot of time this year, but it got rained out,” said Dennis. “Chase was one of our captains, and I called the captains to tell them that we weren’t playing this game and that our season was over.”
While the reactions were generally disappointment over losing one last chance to play, Fulford’s was thinking more of teammate A.J. Molnar.
“This kid, A.J., hadn’t pitched for us all year,” said Dennis. “He was a senior basketball player who just came out for his senior year but didn’t get any innings for us. This was going to be his shot.
“Chase’s first response was, ‘Oh, man. I really wanted to see him pitch.’ It speaks about the kind of a person Chase is. I just called to tell him that he wasn’t going to be playing high school baseball anymore - his first statement was about someone else.
“He’s just a selfless guy. He was genuinely upset that one of his teammates, one his buddies, wasn’t going to have that opportunity. That tells you what kind of human being this kid is. He’s very grounded, and is all about his teammates.”
Fulford remembers the situation well.
“He worked his butt off,” said Fulford, who was among the extended friend group that encouraged Molnar to come out for baseball this season. “I just wanted to see him pitch. I don’t know if he was going to start or not, but he was definitely going to get a chance to pitch.”
Reality Hits
It was at the team banquet this year that Dennis was confronted with the thought of a post-Fulford existence.
“It’s going to be really, really hard,” said the coach. “At the banquet, I had a really hard time saying goodbye to a couple of our guys, Chase included.”
Dennis went on to add that Fulford did all the little things that added up to being the complete package.
“He held down one of the most important positions on the field, whether it was shortstop or second base, for the past three years,” said Dennis. “Replacing a guy as dependable as him, day in and day out, it’s going to be hard.
“He’s just an all-timer for me. He’s going to be impossible to replace. He’s that talented with that good of a head on his shoulders and just grinds and works his tail off. He’s just the full package. He’s just super special.”
While Fulford appreciates all the coaches he has had through the years, the feeling is mutual, as he also holds Dennis in the highest regard.
“We have a great connection,” said Fulford. “I played with him for four years, so that bond really grew. He helped me out, and not just with baseball stuff. He was always there when I needed him.”
That sense of connection extends to his teammates, and it will take an adjustment when he moves on to play Division I ball at Binghamton next year.
“Our senior class was amazing,” said Fulford, who was frustrated that the ball didn’t really bounce the way of the Patriots this year after they reached the state playoffs for the first time in the program’s history the previous spring. “From freshman year to senior year, we all went to every offseason lift, which was amazing. We all worked really hard together, which was a good thing.
“This season was really disappointing, though, because we all had huge expectations. We lost some key players and a couple of pitchers, but still had guys that we could lean on. It just didn’t come together this year.”
Getting on the Field
A native of Colorado, Fulford’s family moved into the CB East area just in time for him to be a four-year varsity player and three-year varsity starter, initially at second base and then at shortstop.
“When he moved in from Colorado, he just exploded onto the CB East baseball scene,” said Dennis. “He started out on JV but was absolutely demolishing JV pitching. We pulled him up to varsity relatively early on, and he just never looked back.”
Reece Moody, who is currently playing at James Madison, was engrained at shortstop so Fulford played second base.
“I just played second to get onto the field,” said Fulford.
When Moody was injured, though, Fulford moved to his natural position of shortstop as a junior during the state playoffs and remained there this past season.
“Oh, he’s a true shortstop,” said Dennis. “I think it was more of an adjustment for him to play second base. That was actually the harder thing for him, because the footwork is a little bit different.”
Natural Fit
Fulford came onto the radar screen of Binghamton University when he was scouted while playing travel ball after his sophomore season at East.
Other Division I schools – such as Boston College, Eastern Tennessee, Tulane and Rutgers – were also intrigued by his play, but Binghamton seemed like a natural fit.
For one thing, it was the perfect location for the natural outdoorsman.
“We hunt a lot and stuff, and that’s a huge reason why I picked it,” said the exclusive fan of country music whose personal serenity prayer is “American Kids” by Kenny Chesney, which he plays on repeat every night to go to sleep and at other times of stress. “The campus is not quite in the Poconos, but it’s right by the Poconos. The campus isn’t in the city of Binghamton, so it’s really like the best of both worlds. It backs up to a bunch of public land, which is cool.”
Secondly, and more importantly, the baseball program is on the upswing.
“They just got new facilities, just for baseball,” said Fulford, who is 5-10 and 165 pounds but hopes to add muscle and pounds to his frame. “They are just beautiful. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that for the first time.”
After making such a lasting imprint at CB East, Fulford is looking forward to turning the page.
He will head to upstate New York at the end of August.
“I’m ready for college baseball,” he said. “I know it will be fun. It’s a little bittersweet, though.”
Making the Transition
The second son of Michelle and David Fulford, who grew up in Florida and then moved on to Colorado before David’s work sent him on Pennsylvania, where they now reside in Buckingham Township.
Fulford was in eighth grade at the time, a traditionally difficult time for any young person to make an adjustment.
Compounding the issue was that it transpired during the pandemic, and school was online and/or hybrid.
Additionally, his older brother, Avery, left to play Division III baseball at Trine University in Indiana.
“We have a pretty small extended family, so the four of us are pretty close,” said Fulford, who enjoyed hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities, such as kayaking, at a home in Nebraska the family kept until recently. “When Avery moved out, it was very hard on me, although he was here for a while when we first moved, which made it a little bit easier on me.”
Nonetheless, Fulford couldn’t help but feel isolated.
“When we moved here, we had the hybrid schedule, so it was hard for me to meet people,” he recalled.
This is a classic example of where sports can serve as an icebreaker for culture shock, as Fulford promptly became socialized by playing football for Lenape Valley and the Bucks County Generals travel baseball team.
By the time entered the hallways of CB East, it was all about baseball.
“Oh yeah,” said Fulford. “Without football and baseball, I would have had a tough time making friends, especially with COVID.
“The sports out here are amazing, too. The Suburban One League is just amazing for sports. In baseball, there is just some great pitching and some really good players. It made me get better.”
Taking Charge
Once fully immersed into Dennis’ program year-round, Fulford naturally established himself as a leader, especially as a senior captain at shortstop.
“It’s hard to get that really vocal guy these days, but he was definitely not afraid to have conversations with players,” said
Dennis. “There were multiple times where, if I needed to have something addressed with a certain player, I would approach Chase and say, ‘Hey, this is a problem. Either you can handle it, or I can.’ He would say, ‘I got it’ and go and have a conversation with that player.”
And it was his style that impressed Dennis the most.
“It was never like he was ever blowing people up in front of others,” said the coach. “It was a good kind of leadership. It was awesome to see a kid that wouldn’t shy away from having a conversation with one of his peers. Any issues that I presented to him were never issues again.”
Fulford entered the season knowing he had big spikes to fill as a leader and felt he was up the challenge.
“I thought I was a pretty strong leader this year,” said Fulford, whose leadership style extended to the classroom, where he was a consistent A-B student. “There’s a point where, honestly, I’m just talking to them, one-to-one, first. I also think there is a point where saying something in front of other teammates and holding them accountable is also OK. You just have to do it respectfully.”
It was certainly noticed, and appreciated, by his coach when it came to team activities in the offseason.
“He never missed a thing,” said Dennis. “Unless his family was off scuba diving somewhere, or something like that, he never missed a thing.
“We lifted twice a week in the offseason. He took it seriously. A lot of guys hide in the weight room, but Chase wouldn’t hide. He would be at the same squat rack every single time.”
Another example: Even though offseason hitting was optional, it was not an option for Fulford.
“I went to all of that stuff during the winter,” he said. “I also tried to help out with the younger guys as much as I could. I let them all know that they could just text me if they ever needed anything.”
When the season began, it also meant sacrificing some individual statistics for the common good.
Fulford batted first this year, as opposed to in the meat of the order, where he could have used his gap power to drive in more runs.
As it was, he batted .309 as a senior with a career-best six doubles and a home run (he had five career home runs, including three as a junior).
“He’s not a really tall guy, but he’s very strong,” said Dennis. “He’s the kind of a kid who, if he were 6-1, I’d be talking to the ACC – or MLB scouts -- about him.”
