By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

ALABASTER – On Nov. 12 Kingwood Christian Academy senior Shiloh West signed a letter of intent to attend Huntingdon College in Montgomery, where he will join the baseball team as a pitcher. West’s father, Frank West, is the head baseball coach at Kingwood and helped lead the Lions’ baseball team to the best record in team history a season ago.

Kingwood struggled for a number of years prior to the most recent baseball season. The Lions’ program won 26 total games from 2007-2014 before going 22-12 in the 2015 season, thanks in part to the effort of West and teammates Wyatt Baker, Buddy Kittrell and Dillon Calhoun amongst others.

West said playing college baseball has always been a dream. He has been in the Kingwood school system since he was 2 years old, and has been interested in Huntingdon for over a year.

“I was at a Montevallo pitching camp and one of their coaches was there,” West said, in reference to the first time he was approached by Huntingdon. “They said, ‘Shiloh we’d like to have you down for a visit,’ so I went.”

When West arrived at Huntingdon for his visit, he was under the impression the experience would be like any other college visit, but then was offered a scholarship on the spot.

“When I got there I just assumed we were just there for a college visit, just to get us interested in the university,” West said. “But when I went down there they offered me, so it was a big shock.”

West verbally accepted the scholarship on the trip as well, and said he and his family had been praying about the decision for a while before the college trip and had decided Huntingdon was the top option for West.

West will enroll at Huntingdon after his senior baseball season and graduation at Kingwood, at which point he will try and earn a starting pitching job.