Bernie, Missouri - Bernie baseball pitcher, Brock Beacham, signed to play at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri on Wednesday, November 17, 2015 at Bernie High School.
“From what I understand a lot of their money goes to education. They are an academic-first school, then athletics kind of come in second, which is fine. It is a very good school and that is what I was looking at more so than the athletic part, was the quality education,” stated Beacham at the signing.
Beacham will be majoring in biological sciences, pre-med and wants to pursue a career in Interventional Radiology.
Academics were very important to Beacham in choosing Missouri S&T. In 2014, USA Today ranked Missouri S&T as one of the top three engineering schools in the country and U.S. News $ World Reports ranked Missouri S&T as the 138h best college in the country in 2015.
“I got a call from them back over the summer,” commented Beacham. “They saw me pitch at a tournament in Springfield. Obviously I was interested. Any school that called, I was going to be interested.”
“We went there and Coach seemed like a very nice guy, a very sincere person,” continued Beacham. “It’s a great academic school and one of the best academic smalls schools in the nation. Just thinking about it, it was the best choice and the most obvious choice.”
Smiling Beacham said that they have an airplane hanger type thing with Astroturf and a really nice weight room.
Bernie finished their fall season 24-6, won the MSHSAA Class 2, District 1 Championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
I been working with him since he was in the 3rd grade and training him. He’s been a joy and is super sharp,” stated Todd Pennington, baseball trainer and owner of Balls ‘n Strikes in Cape Girardeau. “I was able to work with him over the summers and in baseball camps. I have gotten to know him and am proud of him.”
“The one thing about Brock is that he entertains and he is a fun loving kid,” stated Bernie head baseball Coach Darrin Shipman. “As a coach, one thing that sticks out is that he has great baseball knowledge and the second thing is that he has a great baseball I.Q. He wants the ball and he wants to pitch. Anytime you get a player that wants the ball it’s all-good. He’s always having fun and enjoys life.”
“He led in pitching and hitting both during the fall season and that’s pretty tough,” commented Shipman. “We look for big things in the spring.”
Shown in the photo sitting from left to right: Barry Beacham, Brock Beacham and Michelle Beacham. Standing from left to right are Todd Pennington, Jeff Rodgers, and Darrin Shipman.
