Former UI commit Cruz Hepburn pops another surprise
May 27—In the past year, multi-sport Lewiston High School athlete Cruz Hepburn has decommitted from University of Washington baseball, committed to University of Idaho football, helped the Bengals boys basketball team to 17 wins and made it to the Class 5A state tournament in baseball and football.
He recently decided to decommit for a second time, this time from the Vandals in order to continue his baseball career at Lewis-Clark State College.
"After our state tournament, it made it pretty tough knowing that could've been my last baseball game," Hepburn said. "And LC is really an awesome program. The whole valley is behind the program, my family is here and I think I have more of a future in baseball than football."
As a junior, Hepburn committed to the Huskies in August 2020 after receiving offers from Oregon State, Oregon, Gonzaga and Utah.
Hepburn eventually decided to decommit from Washington and continue his athletic career in football, committing to new Vandal football coach Jason Eck in February. When explaining his decision at the time, Hepburn said football had a different type of energy and the bonds created playing the game were unlike anything else.
This week, Hepburn chose to refocus his athletic future to the diamond versus the gridiron.
Hepburn elected to attend school and play baseball for the LCSC, following in the steps of recent Lewiston alums-turned-Warriors Riley Way, Luke White and Jaden Phillips.
"I've always worked with these LC coaches all the way up through my baseball career," Hepburn said. "Now that I'm committed, we're looking at me going there and working hard every single day just on baseball. It's about improving and working with these guys and working towards hopefully getting drafted in a few years."
Hepburn mentioned he probably could have re-committed to Washington or other schools, but LCSC was a program he could achieve just as much in as other programs and that his family and friends being in the valley helped him make the decision.
Despite the process being described as "hectic" by Hepburn, Lewiston coach Darren Trainor thinks Hepburn's situation is a good example for future athletes.
"I think it's a good thing for young kids to look at Cruz and see he played all three sports," Trainor said. "It just helps you compete. You're in all three sports, you're never in the offseason, you're always working. But I think once he focuses on one sport in the fall and really commits 365 days to baseball, the sky is the limit for him."
Trainor mentioned the team got wind of Hepburn's decision when he showed up to a baseball practice for the Lewis-Clark Twins American Legion team earlier this week.
Hepburn had a .287 batting average in the just-concluded season, a .444 on-base percentage, 34 runs scored and a .404 slugging percentage in being named to the Class 5A All-Inland Empire League team. This past football season, Hepburn rushed for 1,210 yards, averaging nine yards per carry, and totaled 20 touchdowns and was named to the Class 5A All-IEL team.
Kowatsch may be contacted at tkowatsch@lmtribune.com, (208) 848-2268 or on Twitter @tkseahawk13.
