Franklinton’s Jamarian Crain has signed a letter of intent to attend Alabama Southern Community College and play baseball.
“When I went and visited the college, I like the surroundings and I liked the field, so I decided I wanted to go there,” Crain said.
The speedy outfielder has proven he’s a solid player. Crain has been a first-team all-district player over the last two seasons. Going into Thursday’s game, this season, Crain is reaching base at a .424 clip and he’s driven in six runs.
“Basically that’s what I go by is my speed,” Crain said. “When I put the ball in play, I like putting pressure on the defense, so my speed is my biggest thing. I’m going to keep using it.”
Franklinton coach Jeff Tageant said Crain is a very very good athlete.
“He can run and he doesn’t mind displaying his running ability. Every ball he hits, he runs out full speed,” Tageant said. “Sometimes when you hit a groundball back to the pitcher or just a routine groundball to shortstop, sometimes as a hitter it’s hard and he runs fullspeed all of the time.”
Tageant said he’s had many professional scouts come up and ask him about Crain just from his home-to-first time.
“He has a passion for the game and I think they’re getting a great guy who’s going to do nothing but improve as time goes on,” Tageant said.
Alabama Southern Community College assistant coach Korey Hall said Crain is somebody they saw two years ago when they went to Franklinton to sign Josh Magee.
“We went to practice shortly after and noticed him as a sophomore. We’ve been kind of been following him ever since,” Hall said. “He’s got the type of speed and the type of ability to come in and be an impact player. We’re losing our centerfielder, so he can kind of come in in the outfield role and contribute immediately.”
Hall said they like to steal a lot of bases and have an aggressive offense.
“He’s the kind of a guy that can plug and play right into our team,” Hall said.
Hall said Crain really a perfect fit.
“He’s a good kid and this is the second time we’ve been here. It’s a great program and we just think he’s the type of guy that can come in and contribute right away,” Hall said.
Academically, Crain wants to go into engineering. He has a 3.5 grade point average.
Crain is the son of Polanski Tate and Elecia Crain.