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Dragons' Boyles signs with Radford
By Scott Franco
sfranco@altoonamirror.com
MARTINSBURG -- Some small-town schools across the country should feel blessed to have one high school baseball player get a chance to sign a letter-of-intent to play at the Division I level.
Over the past few years, Central High School not only gets more than one these days, but on Wednesday, they got two on the same day.
At the senior high school around 3 in the afternoon, Devon Boyles signed to play at Radford University in Virginia, while Paxton Kling is headed to Baton Rouge, La., to play for LSU after signing his name on the dotted line inside the banquet hall at Morrisons Cove Memorial Park around 5 p.m.
"It's nice knowing that I am finally guaranteed a really nice school, getting a good education and getting coached by a really good staff," said Boyles, who signed alongside his family and other school officials.
Kling's family created a festive atmosphere with lights and other decorations at the hall.
"You know how my mom is," Kling laughed. "She goes above and beyond on things, and this is really nice what she has here for me."
Both Boyles and Kling spoke of how their families have been supportive and both let them make their choices.
"I am comfortable with him going to LSU. I think we raised him properly to know right from wrong, but if he doesn't, then I am on the next plane down there," Beth Kling, Paxton's mom, joked. "I knew deep in my heart, wherever he was meant to be, God would put him in the right place. I truly believe God gave him this talent and God has protected him."
Scott Boyles, Devon's father, has been impressed with how humbled his son has been by the whole Division I recruiting process.
"He never talked to his friends about it. In fact, they talk to him about it more than he does to them," he laughed. "I think he is very grateful and thankful for the opportunity."
Paxton Kling had committed to -- and de-committed from -- LSU before finally putting his "John Hancock'' on the necessary papers Wednesday for the Tigers. Paul Mainieri had stepped down this past year as LSU's baseball coach for health reasons, and it was Mainieri and his staff that recruited Kling.
Jay Johnson, who had just taken Arizona to the College World Series this past season, was hired by the Tigers to take over, and when he was allowed, made a phone call to Kling to introduce himself.
"He came to my games while I was getting recruited," Kling said. "I went to Texas A&M for a visit, then I went to LSU again and I just loved it like I did the first time. He's a really good guy when I met him in person."
Taking some advice from his dad, Boyles wanted to know how long coach Karl Kuhn's contract was at the university because he wanted him to be there as long as the Central product was, and he liked what he heard.
"Coach kind of lit up when he heard that (question), and he liked that," Scott Boyles said. "And Devon fed off that. Coach is really a super guy. He has a good rep with the kids."
Central baseball coach A.J. Hoenstine knows how helpful it is, too, that his players already have their commitments down in ink before the start of the 2022 season in March.
"The college baseball thing has become really something else with how early they are recruiting kids these days," he said. "But it will help them relax a little bit and not worry about their plans for next year. Hopefully, we will have a few Major League (Baseball) scouts get a look at our guys to help them make that decision, too."