By Sue Moore
Vicksburg’s all-sports player, Brenden Lovell, has been awarded a prestigious baseball scholarship to Western Michigan University. He will pitch and possibly become a utility player under the leadership of WMU Coach Billy Gernon.
The Western baseball team won the Mid American Conference (MAC) title in 2016; Lovell will find himself among some elite players who can challenge him to become even better as a collegiate competitor, he said. In high school, he has led the Vicksburg football team to a District playoff game two years in a row as the starting quarterback. He will earn 10 varsity sports letters during his VHS career, four in baseball, three in basketball and three in football. Vicksburg’s baseball team competed right up to the state semi-finals in baseball in 2015 and will have a strong group of players back for the 2017 season with Lovell as its go-to starting pitcher, according to Mike Roy, Vicksburg’s athletic director.
“Baseball is my first love, but all the sports I’ve participated in have been fun and challenge me to get better each day,” Lovell said. He will be joining Vicksburg’s Connor Henderson who will be a junior on the WMU baseball team in 2017.
Lovell’s high school baseball coach, Brian Deal, said his prize pupil is a “pitcher,” not just a “thrower.”
“He works at the art of pitching so the batters are apt to hit lots of fly balls and grounders. Brenden’s got the body frame and size to develop into a really good pitcher. He pairs that with a strong work ethic so that is every bit of upside to where he can go with the sport in the future.
Lovell comes from a strong sports family. His mother, Tracy Hume Lovell, is in the Vicksburg sports Hall of Fame because of her basketball, volleyball and track accomplishments. His dad, Jeff Lovell, was a standout star in football and basketball during the 1980s for Vicksburg High School teams.