Attention college baseball coaches. If you’re looking for prospects, you might want to drop in on the Byng Pirates this spring and check out senior Cole Tracy who could be a diamond in the rough. Cole moved to Byng a year ago from California and had a great spring season hitting .461 from the leadoff spot and while playing second or shortstop most of the time. But as he got ready for the fall season there was a setback.
“I had thoracic outlet syndrome where I had a blood clot in my arm and it limited blood flow from my arm to my heart. It’s a hereditary condition that my older brother also had, so when my arm started swelling up, we knew what was happening,” said Tracy. “It required surgery, so I missed almost all of fall baseball and am now getting back into condition for the spring.”
He admits there was a bit of a cultural adjustment in his move to Oklahoma.
“The school I came from had about 3000 students in it and here in Byng there’s only about 300-400 but they’ve been so nice and really made me feel welcome,” said Tracy who carries a 4.0 GPA and is in the National Honor Society.
Another challenge that Cole had was stepping up to become a senior leader this year after the Pirates lost several to graduation last year.
“I knew that I would need to step up this year because we’re pretty young, but I wasn’t sure how it would go with me being the new kid amongst all of these guys who have played together forever. But they really accepted me and maybe being a little better than they were expecting helped some.”
His coach, Shawn Streater, is also grateful for Tracy’s addition to the team.
“He’s jumped right in and has become one of our leaders by example. The kids seem to listen to him and follow his lead and I’m sure the kind of season he had last spring won him a lot of respect.”
In addition to his medical issue last fall, Cole says that prior to moving to Oklahoma, Covid really shut down baseball in California for over a year so he hasn’t gotten a lot of exposure to college recruiters and hopes that this spring and summer will remedy that.
“I’ve made a few contacts and my teammate, Dillon Palmer who’s going to Rose State next year, got me hooked up with the Oklahoma Sandlot team for this summer so I’m hoping to play a lot and get seen by more coaches there as well,”
Cole would like to go to college on a baseball scholarship or if not, attend trade school following graduation.
