Cardinal Bear
Ayers signs National Letter of Intent to play baseball at Stanford
Joe Ayers, one of the leaders of last spring's Juneau-Douglas High School state championship baseball team, signed a National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play baseball at Stanford University next school year.
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"It feels great; it's a big weight off my shoulders," Ayers said shortly after signing the letter of intent. "But I still have a lot of things to accomplish - it's just the beginning of the round."
Ayers' decision to attend Stanford was a difficult one, considering that Duke and Santa Clara universities were heavily recruiting him. Due to Stanford policy, the exact monetary value of Ayers' scholarship was not made public.
"I felt it (Stanford) was the best place to develop myself on the field and in the classroom," Ayers said. "They play for the national championship every year. It's really exciting."
Ayers, a senior at JDHS and the son of Jim Ayers and Dorothy Douglas, will have the opportunity to play for one of the premier programs in college baseball. He will also be studying at what is arguably the top academic institution in the western United States. In a recent Sports Illustrated issue, Stanford was ranked as the second-leading overall athletic program in the country.
Stanford's baseball team was one of the final four teams at last spring's College World Series in Omaha, Neb., losing to the eventual-champion University of Texas Longhorns. The Cardinal was national runner-up in 2000 and 2001.
"We know we got a good one," Stanford head baseball coach Mark Marquess said in a phone interview. "We saw him in a summer camp at Cal Poly and I was really impressed with his athleticism,"
Ayers' natural athletic ability is what caught the eye of the Stanford coaching staff. He's developed into an exceptionally fast, defensively smooth and mentally tough shortstop despite playing in the less-than-perfect Juneau weather.
"We see a lot of potential, and if we get him in better weather and better competition, we're hoping he'll blossom," Marquess said. "He has outstanding possibilities. We want him to come in here and play as a freshman. We have just 15 position players and a whole new infield. We want him to try to win a starting job."
Unlike some universities, Ayers had to first be accepted into Stanford based on his academic credentials before he could even be considered to play baseball. He holds a 3.9 GPA at JDHS and scored a 1340 on his SAT test.
"He's a great student," Marquess said. "We don't have that many players because it's hard to find individuals who can get into Stanford."
Ayers will join four other recent Juneau graduates who play NCAA Division I or professional baseball. Dylan Hickey plays for Dayton University, Garrett Schoenberger plays at Arizona State, Chad Bentz plays for the Montreal Expos' organization and Rob Conway plays professionally for an independent minor-league team.
Ayers plans to major in business and would maybe like to get into the sports agency business in the future. But right now Ayers is focused on the upcoming basketball season; he plays the guard position for the Crimson Bears.
"There's still some things in high school I want to accomplish," Ayers said. "I think we got a good shot at the state title in basketball."
Jeff Kasper is a freelance writer and former Empire sports writer. He can be reached at 463-4645.