One of the most promising baseball products to come out of Yorkton in the past few years has recently agreed to play at a Division I junior college in the United States.
Tyson Black, 18, will spend the next two seasons as a member of the Miles Community Pioneers (Miles City, Montana), a National Junior College Athletic Association Division (NJCAA) I member and 13-time Mon-Dak Conference champion. “I’m looking forward to it and I think it will be great,” said the 6’1”, 170 pound pitcher and middle infielder. “The coaches seem good there and they have a good work ethic and I’m looking forward to getting to play more often, especially in the winter.”
While at Miles, Black hopes to continue with his pitching career that has so far allowed him to represent Saskatchewan at the Canadian National Championships multiple times, as well as in multiple tournaments in the United States. In addition, Black feels that pitching might not be the only thing he’ll do while a Pioneer. “I’m going to try for sure to be a two way player and play somewhere in the field too,” mentioned Black, who played short stop last season with the Parkland Expos Midget ‘AAA’ Club when not on the mound.
The opportunity to play at the NJCAA Division I level will also allow Black to adjust to the college level while ensuring him the opportunity for ample playing time as a freshman before making the jump to a four year school. “With this school, it’s a two year school, so that way there will be a lot more freshmen and people coming right out of high school who want a better shot at starting and getting playing time early on in their college career,” mentioned Black, continuing, “It also helps to adapt to college easier with the classes and workload while playing baseball.”
Black says he will study General Education while at Miles, before moving on to a four year school where he’ll either continue studying Education or move on to Criminology.
Last season Black had solid numbers on a weaker midget ‘AAA’ team, posting a 5-4 record with the Parkland Expos (8-22), giving up 35 runs (23 earned) on 43 hits over 49.1 innings pitched while striking out 56 and walking just 19. Black also batted .241, going 20-for-83 on the season with six doubles, three triples and 15 RBI while walking eight times and striking out 12 times.
