Former Cyclone Excels in D-III Baseball

Jake Cameron, a 2008 South Side High School graduate, compiled a long list of baseball accomplishments during his tenure as a Cyclone. As a two-year captain playing third base for South Side, Cameron earned accolades as a two-time All-County player, conference Most Valuable Player and second-team All Long Island.

That list of accomplishments, however, is about to get a little longer.

After being recruited to play baseball at Virginia Wesleyan College, Cameron transferred to New York State University at New Paltz in his junior year and has mashed at the Division III level. For consecutive weeks, Cameron was named the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Baseball Player of the Week.

Over a seven-day span, Cameron batted .500 with a whopping 1.056 slugging percentage. During his current 15-game hit streak, the converted first baseman/designated hitter leads the conference in batting average (.458) and either tops his team or shares the lead in eight offensive categories. Cameron currently has 27 hits, 15 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple, two homeruns, 14 RBIs, and 44 total bases with a .746 slugging percentage.

"I questioned for a long time whether I was making the right move by transferring form VWC to SUNY New Paltz," he said."My dream has always been to continue playing ball and if I stayed there that wouldn't happen. I now know that this was absolutely the right decision."

His mother Ellen said that she is proud of her son for not only blossoming into a great baseball player, but an upstanding adult. "We recently told him that we are extremely proud of him, not just as a ballplayer, but more importantly for the incredible man that he has become off the field," Ellen said.

In Division III, Cameron is ranked 32nd in the nation in batting average and 21st in slugging percentage.