YODER – Southeast High School senior Tate Carson will continue his athletic career and education at Western Nebraska Community College next season for the Cougar baseball team.
Carson, also an accomplished football player and state wrestling champion, said it was an easy decision to pick baseball over the other sports.
“Baseball has always been my favorite,” Carson said. “I like wrestling and football, but there is something about baseball. I’ve always wanted to play college baseball.”
Carson, who plays first and third base for Scottsbluff, Neb.’s WestCo Zephyrs, said there has been a long running connection with WNCC.
“It’s a program that I’ve always been interested in,” Carson said. “I know the coach pretty well, played for him and worked around him a lot. It’s close to home. I like the campus and its size. It just fit for me.”
Over the past several seasons, the Cougar program has grown into a threat to win the Region IX title, and he wants to be a part of that.
“They have a good program. They are always right at the top of (Region IX), and the last couple years, they have made a run for the title. That excites me,” Carson said. “The program has grown big time. They have been getting way more guys than the other programs. They are doing the right thing over there.”
In the meantime, Carson is doing what he can to stay in shape for the upcoming season, should there be one in Nebraska.
“We can’t play as of now. We are hoping to start up soon,” Carson said. “I think the first of the month was kind of the date set. I assume they will give us the go ahead then or they will give us another date for when we are expected to start.”
Carson has been doing a lot of hitting and throwing on his own.
“The biggest thing is keeping my arm in shape with baseball,” Carson said. “You can’t just pick it up and go with it. You’ll get hurt doing that.”
Carson has attended Southeast since fourth grade and is thankful for the time he had at the school.
“It’s been good,” he said. “I’ve competed in everything they offer. I’ve had good coaches and good guys to play with. It’s been great. It’s treated me well.”
Carson will study engineering in college.
“I’m not sure where I’ll go with that as far as what kind of engineering, but that’s where I’m starting,” he said.
