FAYETTEVILLE — A senior pitcher from Bryant committed to play baseball at Arkansas on Tuesday.
Will McEntire, a right-hander, received the offer to play for the Razorbacks during a prospects camp last Saturday at Baum Stadium. He also had an offer from Arkansas-Fort Smith and had been recruited by Missouri State, Oral Roberts and some junior colleges.
"It's just an amazing, surreal experience," McEntire said. "I've grown up watching the Razorbacks and going to their games, and now I have the chance to play for them."
McEntire was an All-State pitcher as a junior at Bryant High School after going 4-4 with a 1.60 ERA. In 48 innings, McEntire had 64 strikeouts and 21 walks.
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Pitching for the Bryant Black Sox American Legion team this summer, McEntire was 7-1 with a 2.15 ERA. In 61 2/3 innings, he had 68 strikeouts and 21 walks.
In 2017, McEntire started a game in the American Legion World Series for the Black Sox.
Darren Hurt, head coach of the American Legion team, said McEntire has a great curveball with a 12-6 break.
"He gets guys to chase that pitch in the dirt a lot," Hurt said. "He also throws a cutter that really is a fastball, but has some late life to it, almost like a slider.
"Will is a guy that we call 'Big Game Mac' on our legion team. He's a guy that has really pitched in big games for us the last couple of years, even when he was a lot younger than the guys he was competing against. The bigger the stage, the better he does, and he's just a competitor."
McEntire has not been as highly recruited as some classmates because his fastball velocity typically sits between 84-87 mph. But at 6-4, 230 pounds, McEntire has a body that could support more muscle, and he said he is working out twice a day.
"(College coaches are) expecting a velo jump that really hasn't happened yet," Hurt said. "He's got a breaking pitch that I think is ready right now. He's just got to get that velo jump. I think when he gets in that program, they are going to put some velo on him.
"The frame is there. It's just a matter of getting that velo jump. I think it's going to happen. There is no better place to go than to work with Coach Wes Johnson in Fayetteville."
McEntire is the latest in a long line of Bryant players who have committed to the Razorbacks during Coach Dave Van Horn's 16-year tenure. Arkansas' national runner-up team this year included two pitchers, Blaine Knight and Evan Lee, from Bryant. Austin Ledbetter, a sophomore right-handed pitcher for the Hornets, committed to the Razorbacks in April.
Verbal commitments are not binding.