April 2, 2020

By Matt Betts

Canadian Baseball Network

Not even the best hitters in the game could of saw this curveball coming.

The college baseball season was picking up steam into March, and then, like a well executed two seamer on the outside corner for a called strike three, it was frozen.

The call was made to postpone college athletics earlier in March due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Since then there have been numerous questions and players are trying to determine their next move.

David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) was in the middle of a 2-for-6 game with a RBI, a game his Connors State Cowboys would eventually drop 10-9 to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, when rumours started flying around the dugout that their season was about to be postponed.

“We heard rumours during the game that the Big 12 and all those big guys were postponing,” Mendham said. “We all thought that we had to follow.”

Mendham, who finished the abbreviated season hitting .493 with four home runs, 26 RBIs and four stolen bases, is in a particularly interesting situation. The left-handed hitting slugger was in his second and final season at Connors State and was set to land on campus in Columbia, S.C. with the University of South Carolina Gamecocks this fall. He has also garnered significant draft interest thanks to his performances in 2019 and 2020 with the Cowboys.

“It still hasn’t even really hit me yet,” he said. “It’s kind of surreal honestly. I got off to a pretty good start and I was starting to get into a bit of a groove too.”

Then, to add an extra wrinkle into the mix, on March 31 the NCAA Division I Council approved an extra year of eligibility for all spring athletes. In one sense this is a huge positive as Division I athletes won’t lose their season. It gives seniors another chance to come back and end their careers on their own terms. But on the flip side, that will potentially create an influx of players on rosters next fall.

“There could be tons of players,” Mendham said about roster sizes. “If you’re a high school kid, what are you supposed to do? You have all these 24 year old seniors playing.”

Unless picked in the upcoming Major League Baseball draft, Mendham is signed up and set to go to South Carolina next year, which isn’t a bad spot to be in considering the Gamecocks play in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference. With rumours swirling around the draft and how it will be executed in this unprecedented times, Mendham has set himself up well

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Another Canadian in a difficult spot is former Ontario Blue Jay and current Eastern Kentucky Colonel Nick Howie (Oakville, Ont.). Howie, named the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year, had high expectations coming into 2020. Despite the disappointing and abrupt end to the campaign, he felt it was handled well.

“I was officially informed of the cancellation of the season during a team meeting that my head coach, Edwin Thompson called once he found out,” Howie said. “It was first a temporary suspension of the season but then a few days later the Ohio Valley Conference cancelled the remainder of the season. I thought that the entire situation was handled well by the NCAA and EKU. I was glad my team found out about the situation directly from Coach
Thompson as he informed us as soon as he found out.”

Despite it being handled well, it didn't make it any easier.

“I was in complete shock,” he said. “I really did not know what to think when I first heard the news because I never imagined something like this would ever happen, let alone during my senior year.”

Luckily, Howie now has the option to return to Eastern Kentucky if he chooses. The decision of whether he does or not will come in time. Howie, like Mendham, has his eyes on the draft. Whatever that draft may look like.

Howie has certainly been turning heads since landing in Richmond, KY. Over four seasons at EKU, Howie hit .328 with 31 home runs and 128 RBIs. His best full campaign came in 2019 when he hit .353 with 11 home runs, 45 RBIs, a .474 on-base percentage and a .557 slugging percentage. Those numbers garnered him a First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection. To top it off he was also named a First Team Google Cloud Academic All-American as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The 6’3, 210 pound outfielder was hitting .351 through 14 games before the current season was called. Howie hopes that his strong play has allowed playing baseball to continue to be in his future, either at EKU or professionally.

“If I decide not to come back for that extra year of eligibility that I have at EKU then one of my options would be to pursue a career in professional baseball, which has been a lifelong dream of mine,” he said. “I have always had draft aspirations as that always gave me motivation to work as hard as I could. It would be a dream come true to hear my name called.”

No matter his decision regarding his baseball future, Howie has no regrets about his time in the Bluegrass State. His coaches and his teammates have made his time there unforgettable.

“I am not sure what my future holds as there are still a lot of unknowns but I do want to say that I have had an amazing time thus far at EKU and I would not trade those lifelong memories and friends I have made for anything,” he said. “Playing for Coach Thompson and the rest of the coaches at EKU has helped me develop as a player and person in ways I never could have imagined.”

Howie knows he has a great support system to help him wade through these uncertain times.

“My family has always been there for me during my college career which has been amazing,” he said. “I will talk with them about my future and I know they will support me with whatever decision I make.”

Both Howie and Mendham, along with numerous other college baseball players, are fighting off that two seamer on the outside corner and are ready and waiting for their next pitch.

Whenever that may come.