Zachary Gadway '14 Recruiting Profile

I have always loved and played sports since I can remember.  Growing up, I pursued competition in all sports but eventually concentrated all my efforts on baseball.  Having played almost all my life, baseball has been the sport I have given myself to more so than any…and over the years, the commitment and work (combined with ability) have allowed me to reach a very high level of play.

In 2014, after high school graduation and after having a very successful high school baseball career (working through a dysfunctional baseball program that had to switch coaches my senior year), I began playing at Pima Community College with hopes of furthering my pursuit of achieving a scholarship.  My decision to attend Pima was made after turning down many D3 (Liberal Art Colleges with 3:2 Engineering programs) offers and not getting offers from Engineering schools that I thought would have interest (D2 & D1 that I thought would pursue me).  When I began to pursue colleges through the NCSA website, I heard from many of the D2 colleges that they were “out of scholarship money for position players” at that time and that completing a year in JC would help my cause.   I could not get notice from the D1 colleges without attending camps, and I did not have the money to do so.  So, not having the financial means to do anything else, I walked on to Pima CC and I completed one year on the team…but was not afforded certain opportunities because I (was advised) had stated to the coach (in advance) my intentions were to move on to a four year college in the following year. 

In the fall at Pima, I was shown that my offensive production was ranked top 4 out of the close to 40 players (that were on the roster at that time) and told I would be a starter in the spring semester and offered a scholarship with a signed NLI for the spring semester.  It was later in the spring (after not playing and not understanding why) that the head coach very directly stated “regardless of ability, if he was going to play a freshman player, it would only be one that was committed to the following year and I was not going to be considered because I had already stated I was not”.  Regardless of how things worked out from my senior year in high school to this year’s spring season, I continued to practice hard and improve with intentions of persevering and moving forward.  The challenge that I continue to face is that things have worked out in a manner that has kept me hidden from other coach’s eyes. 

My goal this year is the same as it was out of high school...to get a scholarship and pursue my degree in Electrical Engineering.  My stats and grades from high school are very deserving of notice.  The classes I have taken over the past year are all transferrable to an Electrical Engineering degree.  And, my baseball continues to get stronger and is very much worth notice.   I would encourage anyone who reads this to take a close look at what I have accomplished up to this point and to feel free to contact me to go over more details and/or get additional information. 

I am currently playing summer baseball and can be viewed or provide game film (starting June 9th) if requested.  I sincerely hope this statement finds an audience willing to take a serious look at my ability.