A.J. Boshears has played baseball for as long as he can remember.

While advancing through the youth leagues in Seymour, he had a goal of one day playing college baseball.

“I started playing T-ball when I was 4,” he said. “Then I moved to the small diamond at Shields, then I played at Kasting, working all the way up to the big diamond at Shields, and then high school.

“I enjoyed my freshman year the most with the old ‘bench mob’ with Seth Stuckwisch and Jacob Ahlbrand,” he said. “They showed me even when you’re not playing, you can have a good time and get everyone to stay in the game. I think I learned a lot from that the past few years not playing every day.”

Due to an arm injury, Boshears was able to only play five varsity games his sophomore year at Seymour High School.

Last year, he was in the starting lineup on opening day. He said he went into a slump and was out of the lineup for a few games but regained his starting position and moved on from there.

On Tuesday, his longtime dream of playing college baseball become a reality when he signed to play at Cincinnati Christian University.

He made his decision in late January and shared that news with the coach.

“From when I was little growing up, I’ve always wanted to play college baseball,” Boshears said. “I played other sports, but I never really got into them. I’ve wanted to play baseball year-around. Now, I finally get to do it at the collegiate level.”

CCU, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics school and is a member of the 13-school River States Conference. The conference is made up of colleges from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Boshears said he visited the campus four or five times and liked the baseball field.

“On the first visit I took, walking around the campus and everything, they made me feel like I was back at home, where I went out to Sauers first and then came here (Seymour High School), a small, compact area,” he said. “It’s about the same size as Seymour, about 1,200 students. It feels more like a home environment, everyone is nice and it felt right.”

He hopes to play a lot of outfield for the Eagles.

“I’m going in as an outfielder. My second position is catching,” Boshears said. “They’ve told me they are going to have two teams next year to try to get more competitive and try to get kids competing. They’ve told me they expect me to walk in and compete for a starting role on the varsity team. I’ll just see how that goes.”

Seymour baseball coach Jeremy Richey said he feels Boshears can definitely contribute at CCU.

“It’s a good setup for him,” Richey said. “When he went over there, they really liked him, and he liked the place. He had talked about going to a smaller school like that.”

Richey said he expects Boshears to be an outfielder at the college level. This spring for the Owls, Boshears will primarily fill that position along with doing some catching.

“We’re going to move him around a little bit,” Richey said. “He’s a senior, and he has played varsity for four years, so whatever need we have for him, we know he’s willing to do whatever it takes. He has put on some weight, added strength and he’s going to drive the ball a little bit more.”

Boshears’ athleticism should help as he transitions to college, Richey said.

“He’s so athletic. He’s strong. He’s so fast that behind the plate, you kind of lose athleticism, so that’s why we made the change here,” Richey said. “He is an elite runner. He’s a really fast kid that you want to take it easy on those legs. You don’t want him bending over for 120, 130 pitches a game.”

Outside of playing at Seymour High School, Boshears said he has played travel ball for five seasons, including last fall at Ceraland in Columbus. Prior to that, he played with the Indiana Outlaws and Indiana Mustangs, based in Westfield.

“Seeing the competition we played, especially the last two years, every single game, we were playing Division I commits,” he said. “They threw 92, 94 off the mound. I got to see true professional athletes because most of them are going to get drafted. It is a real eye-opener, like what it’s going to be like. We were treated like college athletes. My whole team is committed except for two athletes.”

Playing at CCU, Boshears will join three other former Owls in the River States Conference. Janzen Bloom is a sophomore at Indiana University Southeast, and Tyler Bloom and Luis Munoz are freshmen at Indiana University Kokomo.