ONA, W.Va. — As the high school baseball regular season is in its final week now, Cabell Midland pitcher (and first baseman) Madison Jeffrey will have the coming months to eventually shift his focus to WVU.
The senior was the lone in-state scholarship signee with West Virginia back in the fall for the Mountaineers’ 2018 recruiting class.
“West Virginia contacted me in the end of August after I had just pitched in a showcase for Prep Baseball Report and got my fastball up to 92 mph,” he said. “I got a call from assistant coach (Steve) Sabins and he showed great interest in me – it just went uphill from there.”
It was only until recently when Jeffrey realized his arm might be his ticket to the next level.
“I’ve always pitched and everything, but I never really put my focus just on pitching,” he said. “Over the summer I started hitting my spots and getting more control. I put a lot of focus into pitching too and I’ve gotten my fastball up to 92/93 mph. I have a breaking ball, a slider, changeup and fastball.”
Jeffrey entered this past week with a 2.29 ERA in five appearances on the mound for Class AAA No. 6 Cabell Midland, while collecting seven doubles and 12 RBIs at the plate.
In his sixth appearance of the year on Wednesday, Jeffrey threw a five-inning no-hitter in a 13-0 win for the Knights over No. 2 St. Albans. He also went 3 for 3 at the plate with two RBIs in the win, while striking out nine on the mound.
“I’m going to try hitting a little bit (at WVU), but it’s up to them,” he said. “I’m going to hopefully prove myself and see what they have for me.
“Their facilities are beautiful, it wowed me,” he said. “It’s just a blessing to have the opportunity to become a Mountaineer and represent my state and hopefully make a trip to Omaha.”
First things first, though, for Cabell Midland and that’s the upcoming postseason in Region 4, Section 1, which is always competitive against No. 1 Hurricane, Huntington and Spring Valley.
The opposing section features No. 4 Parkersburg South, Ripley and Parkersburg.
The Knights fell to Hurricane 15-4 back on April 18.
“They are a great team and they have a lot of depth, especially in pitching,” Jeffrey said of Hurricane. “But we just have to go out, play our hardest, and prove ourselves.”
West Virginia currently has four players on its roster from the state of West Virginia in Hampshire’s Shane Ennis, Preston’s Jimmy Galusky, Wheeling Park’s Michael Grove and Chase Illig from Bluefield.