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Click Here 44 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, January 30, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend April 1, 2003 Norum’s versatility at Crater comes full circle Prep Notebook By DON HUNT Mail Tribune There’s no telling how far Andrew Norum will progress in baseball this spring. But one thing is certain: the four- sport athlete is going to have fun closing out his high school career at Crater High. Norum, a first-team, all-conference basketball player this past season and one of the top receivers in the Southern Oregon Conference in football, has been a schizophrenic of sorts during the spring. Should he play baseball? Or should he run track? Norum has done both, perhaps becoming the first athlete in SOC history to alternate the two sports during each year of high school. Since he ran track his freshman and junior years and played baseball his sophomore year, it only made sense to dig through his closet and relocate his cap and glove for 2003. "I guess this just kind of completes the cycle," says Norum, who will line up in left field today at Miles Field when the Comets — weather permitting — meet South Medford at 4 p.m. in a non-conference game. Norum probably would have stayed with baseball as his spring sport two years ago, but wanted to improve his speed and quickness for football, hoping to eventually land a Division 1 scholarship as a wide receiver or tight end. But that dream effectively ended last fall when Comets starting quarterback D.J. Beatty moved to California a couple days before the football season started. The Comets struggled through a 2-7 season and Norum, who had caught 47 passes for 648 yards and five touchdowns in 2001, caught only 29 for 327 yards in 2002 — hardly the kind of statistics that get you recruited to a major university. "It was frustrating," Norum admits of his senior year in football. "But I can look myself in the mirror and know that I gave 110 percent in every practice and every game." Basketball, it turns out, has become Norum’s best sport. He led the SOC in scoring this past season, averaging 18.9 points while shooting 58 percent from the field and 81 percent from the free-throw line. He also grabbed nine rebounds per game. Norum will head to Southern Oregon University in the fall and play both football and basketball for the Raiders. But for now, Norum will roam the outfield, swing the bat and do a little relief pitching for the Comets. "It’s my senior year and I really had the urge to play baseball again," Norum says. "It’s always been in my blood, really. "It’s different from football and basketball in that it’s more of a mental game. But that’s what makes it so fun." First-year Crater baseball coach Jim Powell can’t help but wonder how good Norum would be had he played baseball all four years at Crater. "He’s such a good athlete and we don’t have anyone on this team who works any harder than him," Powell says. "If he had all the skills ... it makes you wonder." Not that Powell is ruling out Norum having a big spring. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Norum went 2-for-4 at the plate in Crater’s 11-6 victory over Mazama on March 21 — the Comets’ lone game to date due to four rainouts. "He’s behind in some things right now but he’s catching up rapidly," Powell says. "Each day he looks a little more comfortable. And the thing is, he realizes he’s got a ways to go. You tell him something and he absorbs every bit of it. "Knowing who he is and what he’s done in the other sports, I know Andrew is really going to step up at some point. It’s just a matter of when." Like many kids growing up playing baseball in the Rogue Valley, Jeremy Frantz dreamed of playing collegiately at the Division I level. But realistically, Frantz probably would have had a tough time making an impact at a Pacific-10 Conference school or its equivalent. And so last Friday the South Medford High outfielder signed a letter-of-intent with Western Baptist, an NAIA school in Salem. "The thing I don’t want is to go someplace and sit on the bench for two or three years," Frantz says. "I want to play right away." Frantz visited Western Baptist last fall and felt comfortable at the small campus, which numbers just 720 students. He also felt comfortable being around former North Medford High and current Western Baptist players Nate Mayben and K.C. Rumrey, not to mention coach Paul Gale. "I met with him (Gale) and he was real positive," Frantz says. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Frantz is off to a hot start with South Medford, batting a sizzling .610 with one home run and three doubles in the Panthers’ first five games. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! 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