Boston Dowd has played baseball since he was old enough to walk, though it was only last year that he became a pitcher.
Ironically, it is as a pitcher that Dowd recently signed to continue his baseball career in college.
Dowd, a senior at McDonald County High School, signed on national signing day (Nov. 14) with Cowley County Community College in Arkansas City, Kan.
"Today was a dream come true," Dowd said. "I have been waiting for this day for a long time. All the excitement has been building up since I committed in August. I knew all my hard work would pay off eventually. I talked to my uncle (MCHS graduate Brock Buckingham and assistant baseball coach at Cowley), and he told me I would have a better chance at the next level as a pitcher, so I started focusing a little more on that."
Dowd picked up two wins against three losses last year with an earned run average of 1.96, striking out 31 while walking 13 in 39.3 innings in earning honorable mention all-conference honors.
Dowd is no stranger to the Cowley program, having attended as many games as his schedule would allow over the years while visiting his uncle.
"Cowley has a great winning tradition, and the team has close relationships with each other," Dowd said. "Arkansas City is a small town and is a lot like McDonald County. It's really exciting to get to go there because I have been around Cowley for a long time. I have always wanted to play there, but I wasn't sure that was realistic and now it is really happening."
Dowd played for three years under head coach Nick Martin and pitching coach Bo Bergen before Martin resigned after last season. Kevin Burgi replaced Martin as head coach at MCHS and had the opportunity to coach Dowd at times this summer when Dowd wasn't playing for the 417 summer team.
"I wish Boston the best of luck," Martin said. "It's a great story to grow up as a Cowley fan and then have the opportunity to go play for them. I know he is going to a great place and have the opportunity to play for Coach Buckingham and be around him. I am happy for Boston to have the opportunity to play baseball at the collegiate level at the place where he dreamed of playing."
Bergen said the coaching staff didn't know that Dowd was interested in pitching until his junior year. He said he knew Dowd was athletic and knew what he was doing on the baseball field, so he was happy to see Dowd join the pitching staff.
"I saw him throw a 'pen' and I liked what I saw," Bergen said. "Boston said he felt comfortable up there and we started getting in the workout routine and throwing regularly. He had good command from the start and a surprisingly good change-up. His curveball needed some work, but he continued to work on it and he got it to where it was a pretty reliable number three pitch. When you can throw three pitches for strikes, you are going to be a good high school pitcher. He is a great competitor on the mound. He got the chance to throw in a lot of big games last year because of his competitiveness. He was very competitive against some of the best teams in the state."
Though Burgi only had the chance to see Dowd play a few times, he liked what he saw.
"Obviously, I have very limited time with Boston, but the time I have had with him, you can tell he has a good work ethic," Burgi said. "He is definitely a kid who is a leader and the other kids flock to him. It's exciting to see him get to move on to the next level and achieve some of his goals."
Baseball was not the only sports Dowd played while at MCHS. He is a three-year starter for the MCHS basketball team and was a starting wide receiver for the football team this fall in his first year out for football, where he earned second team all-conference honors.
Dowd is the son of Craig and Brandi Dowd of Anderson. He plans to major in sports medicine or physical therapy at Cowley County.
Sports on 11/29/2018