With his college commitment now complete, Grant Kessler can focus on creating a memorable senior baseball season at Morristown.
“I’m feeling pretty good about it,” said Kessler. “Baseball season is coming up.”
On Friday at Morristown, Kessler signed his letter of intent to play baseball at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before that happens, he has some specific goals in mind for his final season as a Yellow Jacket.
“It would be nice to bring home a county championship and get a sectional championship this year,” said Kessler. “I think we have a pretty good chance to win the sectional this year.”
Morristown last captured a sectional championship in 2008.
In 2022, the Yellow Jackets finished 12-12 with just one senior on the roster. Kessler went 2-1 with a 1.67 earned run average. In 46 innings, he allowed 25 hits and struck out 102 of 185 batters he faced. His biggest performance came early in the season when he struck out 20 North Decatur hitters in one game.
“I am really excited for the baseball season,” said Kessler. “I want to have more strikeouts this year. I would like to throw a no-hitter. That would be pretty cool. And get 21 strikeouts in a game.”
Kessler, a left-handed starting pitcher, took serious looks at the baseball programs at DePauw University and Manchester University but settled on Mount St. Joseph for several reasons.
“The school has a good 4-and-1 program in Business where my fifth year I can get my master’s degree in Business,” he said. “The school is really cool. The classes and dorms are all connected in a square so you don’t have to walk outside. And the weight room has the same machines that I use at the YMCA in Shelbyville.”
There also is the Centennial Fieldhouse and Austin E. Knowlton Fitness Center that opened on campus on Feb. 1, 2021. The state-of-the-art facility provides indoor practice space for many MSJ athletic teams, is the site of the baseball program’s lockerroom, and the fitness center is available for the entire student body.
For more on Kessler's 2022 success, https://shelbycountypost.com/sports/629836
The change of scenery will prove challenging admits Kessler but there will be familiar faces in the baseball program, including a travel baseball teammate that is committed to the Lions.
“I will have people I know and it’s not that far away,” he said.
While baseball is his top priority for the near future, eventually he will have to decide what career track he wants to take with his degrees.
“I don’t have much of a plan right now but I want to stay in the sports world,” he said. “ I really like basketball and football too.”
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