Apollo’s Noah Cook will be staying home in Owensboro to play college baseball after signing for KWC. The pitcher/outfielder has yet to play his final season as an Eagle, but he will do so as a returning champion after he helped clinch a regional title with Apollo last year. On his way to the title, Cook pitched 78.1 innings and racked up 107 strikeouts throughout the season and finished with a 1.97 ERA.
Playing at the collegiate level was always a dream for Cook, he said. He fulfilled that dream by taking it one step at a time. Aside from the success he achieved with Apollo as a team, Cook focused on bettering himself in preparation for high school and did the same in preparation for the college level. Having the work pay off with his signing at Burns Elementary felt great for him, he said.
“I feel great,” he said. “I mean, it’s been a dream of mine ever since I was little. When I was younger it was just ‘get to that next level’, and I got to the next level. I got to high school, and the next level after that is college. So, I’ve just been working to get to that next level until, and here we are.”
Despite visiting other colleges, Cook set his sights on being a Panther, he said. After getting to know the coaches and taking the close location into consideration, Cook said he felt like family at KWC. A big reason he chose KWC was so that his family would not have to travel far to watch him play.
“There’s not a lot of traveling,” he said. “The family doesn’t have to travel far to see me, and I know a lot of my family will want to come see me play. That was a big reason for it. Plus, I just get homesick easily. If I had to move 6-7 hours away, I’d miss home pretty bad. Staying home and being close to my family will help comfort my nerves a little bit.”
Cook will be studying exercise science while at KWC and hopes to pursue a career in player development. While he still has time before he is officially a college athlete, Cook said he will miss the special connections he has made throughout the years with his Apollo teammates.
“I’ll miss the connections and my friends on the team,” he said. “When I go to college, I’m going to have to have a whole new friend group and talk to new people. In high school, you’re with your friends for four years. The connections you have, there’s nothing like it. It’s something special.
His high school pitcher-catcher duo will still be intact however, as fellow Eagles catcher Michael Chaney also signed to become a Panther next year. Having Chaney along for the college ride is going to help with Cook’s experience.
“We’ve been playing with each other ever since we were eight,” he said. “It’s like he said, we’ve been day-ones since then. It’s going to really help my experience.”
