Jordan Quinn headed to NCCU
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 31, 2012 11:50 PM
Jordan Quinn's dream of playing Division I baseball is no longer a fantasy, but a reality -- just two years later.
However, the Southeastern Community College sophomore almost resigned himself to playing on the Division II level when the Carson-Newman (Tenn.) College coaching staff showed considerable interest in the left-hander.
Quinn didn't give up his aspiration. He hunted around for a school close to home so he could reduce some expenses, mainly academic and travel, for him and his family.
"That was a priority," Quinn said.
Then he heard about significant changes taking place at North Carolina Central. A new coaching staff had been hired to rejuvenate the floundering program in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
Quinn liked the coaching staff's "sales pitch," saying it reminded him of how former coach Charles Davis runs his program at Charles B. Aycock. The idea of playing in a structured environment coaxed Quinn into signing with NCCU.
"Their pitching coach (Jerry Shank), he is the one who took me around campus and sold it real well," Quinn said. "I liked his philosophies on certain stuff. (Everything) reminded me a lot of how things were done at Aycock. That's how I like for a program to be ran and how much I'd like to play again for a coach like that."
Quinn is 4-2 on the mound for Southeastern and has compiled a 2.063 earned run average (ERA) in 48 innings of work. He's logged 29 strikeouts and has been an integral part of the Rams' current 12-game win streak.
Southeastern (19-9 overall) faced Region X foe College of the Albemarle in a three-game series this weekend.
Coming off the program's first-ever appearance in the Division II JUCO World Series, Quinn said the Rams struggled to find an identity early in the season. The incoming freshmen were pressing too hard to match the success of last year's team.
Errors also proved crucial.
"We'd have that one error where we'd just blow up and we've eliminated that," Quinn said. "We're playing good baseball right now. The pitchers are doing their job and our hitters are getting timely hits. I've been putting up consistent numbers."
When Quinn completes his JUCO career, he'll head north to participate in the highly-competitive New York Collegiate Baseball League.
"I figure that will be a good test run because there will be a lot of D-I players in that league," Quinn said. "I feel like I can compete at that level. I don't throw hard, but I pitch well enough to get people out. I just go out there every day and compete, and give my team the best chance to win.
"I want to carry that over to Central."