Signing Day: Elkhart's Evans inks letter of intent with LeTourneau University
Apr. 29—LONGVIEW — Elkhart Elk Hunter Evans signed his national letter of intent Friday morning to play baseball at LeTourneau University.
"It felt great to finally experience this day," Evans said. "I feel like all my hard work has paid off."
Evans chose to stay close to home with committee to LeTourneau University. There he'll be under head coach Robin Harriss who has spent the past 15 years as the head baseball coach at LeTourneau University. He's a two-time member of the American Southwest Conference's Coaching Staff of the Year, Harriss received the awards in 2014 and 2011.
In his time at LETU, Harriss has guided the YellowJackets to unprecedented heights, with five appearances in the ASC Championship Tournament in a six-year span, which included three straight appearances from 2014-16.
"I could tell these coaches are pretty good," Evans said. "They knew what they were talking about and the transition coming from high school to college. It's a different mindset."
Elkhart has already locked in their playoff position for this season, which makes the second consecutive season they've reached the playoffs under head coach Ryan Rasbeary. Evans is also the second Elk to sign under Rasbeary to play collegiate baseball after Zedrick Warren committed to play at Western Texas College last year.
"For the few young ones we have they see this is possible if they put in the work and effort," Rasbeary said. "They can go play on the next level if they want to. Being from a small town and school you don't see it as much. It's a huge positive for the young ones to see another one of our guys go off to play at that level."
Evans echoed the same sentiments as he recalled on how the leadership and example older players set for him help guide him to the position he's in today.
"Freshmen year, a lot of those seniors showed me what high school baseball was supposed to be like," Evans said. "Once they graduated I carried it on. I hope I set that example for players behind me. I tell them believe in yourself even if no one else does. Keep on pushing and you can do whatever you put your mind to."
"He worked hard for this moment," Rasbeary said. "He would be around baseball 24/7 If he could be. I'm glad to it finally pay off for him."
