ENTERPRISE, Ala. – Athletics at Enterprise State Community College will see a boost starting in the fall semester. Per NJCAA recommendations, baseball, softball, and men’s and women’s basketball will receive the maximum number of scholarships next school year.
“As a whole, I think our athletic department is going to be a more dominant program,” said athletic director Jermaine Williams.
Both Boll Weevil basketball programs will see an increase from 10 scholarships to 15 while both baseball and softball will jump from 21 to 24.
“Adding these additional scholarships is just a huge plus,” said head softball coach Traci Harrison. “We can compete and we can compete at the highest level with the same amount of players as the other colleges in our conference do.”
ESCC president Matt Rodgers believes this will open the door for more local athletes to remain in the Wiregrass.
“We’ve got great talent in the area and great students that come from great families and great high schools,” said Rodgers. “We’re certainly going to give them every opportunity that we can to continue to support them.”
The additional scholarships will come in handy throughout the season by adding extra players at key positions.
“Being able to have multiple kids at multiple positions instead of having to play one kid at two or three positions,” said Williams. “I can actually play one kid at one position because I’ll have enough backups to do that.”
“I’s going to give us depth essentially,” said head baseball coach Bubba Frichter. “You want to have at least 12 arms on your staff. That’s kind of the bare minimum. That’s three pitchers per game in a conference setting with a doubleheader Thursday and a doubleheader Saturday.”
The scholarships will cover all the academic needs from books, fees, and tuition.
Along with the additional scholarships, Rodgers says he’s hopeful that Enterprise State will be adding new sports in the near future.
