“I was giving up on it.”
Grace had entertained the thought of playing at Morehouse in Atlanta but was leaning toward attending either Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky and hanging up the cleats.
Then Earlham College came along.
“I honestly wasn’t thinking about playing baseball in college that much, but I liked it (at Earlham) and they have a great baseball program,” Grace said. “I don’t know why, but they got me.”
Grace was a second team All-Greater Miami Conference selection as a senior. The outfielder hit .328 with 10 RBIs and 17 stolen bases.
“Earlham feels like good fit,” Grace said. “I’m a fast guy and they like to steal a lot of bases so that is a good thing.
“I felt like hanging it up when I was done with Mason, but they talked me into it and it was just the right thing to do.”
Grace will major in psychology and sociology in a pursuit to become a special education teacher.
It is a degree Grace will have to craft at the liberal arts school in Richmond, Ind. Everything else was a perfect fit.
“It’s a small school and it’s not too far from home,” Grace said. “I agree with the school philosophy and I really liked their head coach.
“I didn’t want to go far away. I am a big momma’s boy and I didn’t want to go far.
“It is an hour and 15 minutes from my house and that is perfect because I can go home when I want and be on my own when I want.”
While it was not the path Grace had thought the recruiting process would take when he was younger, the end result was the one he had been hoping for.
“How everything happened was perfect,” Grace said. “I decided to play baseball and I got a good future in place in front of me.”
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