For The Tribune
A.J. Boshears said he thoroughly enjoyed his time with the Seymour High School baseball team the past four seasons.
He said he quickly learned how to do what was expected of him, and tried to be a senior leader this season.
“My freshman year, coming up and being a freshman, I didn’t get to play a lot,’ Boshears said. “Just seeing how it was taken, and how everyone treated it, and how it needed to be done. Through my senior year I (tried) to help the underclassmen like Braden Christopher and those players coming up to and what we need to do to keep the program moving forward like we have been. I had fun doing the past four years.”
Boshears recalled playing T-ball when he was 4 years old.
“Ever since then, I’ve played every year,’ Boshears said. “I played all-stars when I was 6, and my first year of travel ball was when I was 13.”
He changed positions during his high school career, moving from catcher as a freshman to the outfield. Boshears was a two-year starter in center field for the Owls.
“It was a little different at first,” he said. “If I could get to it, I was expected to get to it and make the play. Our outfield, with all three of us going to college, we were a lot faster so with Michael (Knecht) in left and Seth (Maki) in left we covered a lot of ground.”
Boshears said anything hit to him, or into left-center or right-center, “was still expected to be my ball, but I had confidence in both of them that if I couldn’t get to it I know they can. The hardest ball is one right at you.”
He said catching fly balls in the wind was tricky, and fly balls react different in warm weather than they do in cold weather.
“The outfielders have control,” he said “If we call it (infielders) need to get out of the way.”
He said communication between the infielders and outfielders was important to avoid errors and injuries.
“They always say defense wins championships and offense wins games,” Boshears said. “We take pride in defense here at Seymour. It’s more fun when you take pride in it.”
Boshears batted second or third the last half of the season, and finished strong in the sectional with a double and two RBIs in the upset win over New Albany. He had two triples, an RBI, and scored a run against Bedford North Lawrence in the semifinals.
“Most of the time Coach (Jeremy) Richey allowed me to hit away,” he said. “What I do, I crowd the plate, and a lot of pitchers don’t like that so they try to throw inside on me and overpower me. Hitting was very fun.
“Most of my first pitches were fastballs. I try to hit everything in left-center. If you do get down 0-1 you’re in a hole, and that is never good to be in a hole especially with the pitchers in this (Hoosier Hills) conference.”
Boshears said he enjoyed playing at American Legion Field.
“Our field is unbelievable,” he said. “Because of playing travel, I was fortunate enough to play on a lot of college fields. I like to compare our field to a lot of Division I college fields the way we take care of it and the way it is set up.
“Mainly our whole conference is set up like that. Everyone in our conference has a beautiful field. The HHC really takes care of their baseball fields even though we’re in Indiana and we’re a basketball state. With our field and our program and everything we are set up nice. It’s more like a small college field, than a high school field. My favorite (away) field to play on is probably Bedford.”
Boshears will continue his baseball career at Cincinnati Christian University.
“Baseball has been real fun,” he said. “I’m glad I get to continue on.”
The senior said he has enjoyed his time at SHS.
“I came from (St. John’s) Sauers so this was a little jump my freshman year,” he said. “Just being able to go through the hallways (was nice) SHS was good for me. Next year I’m going to a college that is about the same size. I thought my education went very well here and I’ve had some good teachers here. I feel like I had a pretty good career.”
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Name: A.J. Boshears
School: Seymour High School
Parents: Troy and Wendy Boshears
Sibling: Mike
Sports: baseball 4 years, football 1 year
Plans after high school: attend Cincinnati Christian University, play baseball
Favorite food: chicken
Favorite team: Vanderbilt University
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