TO DESTINY WITH GLOVE: BHS senior inks baseball letter

“Do you know where you’re going to?“… When you look behind you, there’s no open doors“What are you hoping for?“Do you know?”

— (Gerry Goffin / Michael Masser)

Zeb Henry has a very definite answer to these questions.

Yes!

Henry knows he wants to play baseball as long and as far as his talent, skills and body will take him.

Whether or not he achieves the fullness of his dream, he doesn’t plan to leave any doors open behind him.

That’s why the exceptional Bartlesville High senior baseball player is on the threshold of his next step — playing baseball at Eastern Oklahoma State.

Henry recently signed his letter of intent to that purpose — and he couldn’t be happier about it.

“I’m super excited,” Henry said. “I think it’s a good opportunity for me. I think it’s a pretty good place to be.”

Eastern Oklahoma has a junior college sports program, which means Henry is focused on spending a year or two there and look to finish up his college baseball time at a four-year college, hopefully a bigger Division I team.

That would be the final door to his burning desire to play major league baseball.

“Since I was little, this (playing pro ball) has been a dream of mine since I started playing baseball,” he said. “I’m obviously going to have a back-up plan and get my education and degree. My plan is to maximize my potential as a baseball player and see where that lands for me.”

Henry has displayed prodigious promise in his prep and summer baseball pursuits.

Last spring, he ripped the ‘hide for a .339 batting average, nine doubles, a triple, homer and 15 RBIs. He scored a team high 46 runs and forged a .454 on-base percentage for the Bartlesville High team.

He also did some of the heavy work on the mound — 32.2 innings, a 4-1 record, 40 strikeouts, 12 walks and a chin-rubbing 2.14 earned run average.

Thirdly, his glove and arm bolstered a Bruin team already one of the best in the state on defense.

Henry is one of key reasons that head coach Cody Price’s Bartlesville team has hammered out a 49-27 record the past two seasons, including a 25-13 mark last year.

Henry will be the first group of players to play four years in Price’s program.

“I’m super excited,” he said about the upcoming baseball campaign next spring. “I think we have a really good chance this year. We want to go out and win a state championship. … I think we can make it to the state tournament and go and win it.”

And, then his next mailing address will be Wilburton, care of Eastern Oklahoma State.

Former Oklahoma Wesleyan University and Eastern Oklahoma head baseball coach Matt Parker made the first contact with Henry.

But, Parker has since moved to be part of the tTexas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball staff and Brock Moss is the new Eastern Oklahoma skipper.

Moss — and Henry — become part of a program that finished 51-5 last season and won a National Junior College Athletic Association regional championship but lost out in district action.

Parker left several weeks later, opening the door for Moss to take charge of Eastern Oklahoma baseball — and make a positive impression on Henry.

“I really like that the head coach and his assistants had to say about where they were going with the program,” Henry said about Moss. “They said I’ll be able to play right away. I felt it was the right place for me. I felt like I was led to go there.”

Henry said the coaches talked about him playing third base or, more likely, in the middle infield. As of now, he is the only middle infielder from the class of 2023 the team is bringing in.

“I wanted somewhere to go and play position that would benefit me the most and get me to the next level he said,” adding that winning also is very important.

He analyzed his offensive strengths as getting on base with regularity and making consistent contact with the bat.

“I’m a singles guy. … I can produce some damage and have a little up. I consider myself versatile to play throughout the lineup.”

With his college choice out of the way, Henry can now focus on Bruin ball and and a hopefully historic season with Price.

“I think we have every possibility to win the state championship,” he said.

That would be a monumental accomplishment — Bartlesville High has claim to just one state title — in 1985 — and College High before that ruled the state just twice, in 1969 and 1980.

Whatever options destiny has for the future, there’s do doubting one thing — Zeb Henry knows where he’s going to, or at least where he wants to go.

That might be the most important step of all toward the right direction.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High player Zeb Henry signs college LOI