Prior to the summer starting, we had a mission to find a college opportunity for Donterrian "Dee" Triplett. In May, Dee's team won the Missouri State Class 3 Championship; in June, Dee was named All-State; and July, Dee was named "SEMO Baseball Athlete of the Year" by SEMOBall.com.
That is an incredible run. But with August fast approaching, Dee had no scholarship offers.
Mineral Area College said they wanted Dee, but they had no money to offer.
When our team travels to a weekend tournament, we hire a college coach from that area to be in our dugout. This provides our players the opportunity to learn about different baseball programs and gives that coach an opportunity to see our players in action. You learn more about players during 4 games in the dugout than you can see from the stands for a couple of innings.
Coach Frank Lee agreed to be our coach for the Perfect Game Deep South tourney at Hendrix College and University of Arkansas-Little Rock. Coach Lee is Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Central Baptist College, a 4-year NAIA college. One of my conversations with Coach Lee in early June was about Dee and how I hoped he could help find a place for him.
Not only was Coach Lee successful in helping Dee find a college, Dee's scholarship package was exactly what he needed!!!
I recently received a message from Coach Lee:
Brian,
I would just like everyone to know that because of the opportunity you gave me to coach the Perfectos also gave me the pleasure to coach some very special young men. One of them being Dee Triplett from Malden, MO. It was very apparent early in the weekend the baseball talents that Dee possessed. Following that weekend, I began to make some phone calls on Dee's behalf and Coach Spencer Adcock was very receptive to the talents I explained about Dee.
I look forward to keeping up with his progression at Arkansas Baptist College and who knows, Dee might become a Central Baptist College Mustang in the future.
Coach Frank Lee
CBC Mustang Baseball
When we started this organization, it was because players like Dee were being overlooked.
In a survey down in Texas, over 95% of the college scholarships awarded were given to players who were on a select travel team. If you cannot afford to be on a showcase team, you really only have access to about 5% of the available scholarships. Our organization stands in that gap for players from our area, regardless of their family's income, and works to secure them the opportunity to play baseball at the college level.
We are excited to be a part of Dee's story and can't wait to watch this next chapter of Dee's career unfold.