Tanner Reeves considered joining the Army a year ago after his junior year at Ethel. He returned for his senior season with the goal of winning a state championship in baseball.
“That's why I came back. It's what I dreamed about since the ninth grade,” he said. “We are the dream team.”
Ethel looked very much like a contender for the MHSAA 1A championship with a 13-1 record, outscoring its opponents 130-32 and with victories over some 3A and 4A schools. The Tigers were the second ranked 1A team according to the website MaxPreps. Personally, Reeves was off to a sensational start, batting .552 with 17 RBIs.
Then it all came to an end, deflating the dream, when the Coronavirus pandemic closed schools for the remainder of the year, canceling all spring sports.
As one of the state's most talented seniors, Reeves had offers to play junior college ball from Holmes and East Central. “I had one other; I forget where.”
But Reeves decided against playing at the next level. “I love baseball to death. If I went to college I would want to be in the pros. But I can't see myself being in the pros, so Army is the way to go for me.”
He is scheduled to begin six weeks of basic training at Fort Benning in Georgia on June 2. That will be followed by six months of intensive Advanced Individual Training (AIT).
The benefits of a military career are attractive to him. “I want to serve my 20 years, maybe more. Then I want to come back home and get a civilian job, something like welding.”
Reeves does not aspire to be just another soldier. He hopes to be a cavalry scout.
“I would go behind enemy lines. Get information. It’s pretty dangerous. I would be jumping out of airplanes, surviving in the woods.”
Reeves first love was actually football and he played for Ethel until four concussions forced him to give up the sport after his junior year. He was a running back and an undersized defensive end at 175 pounds.
“I gave every inch of my body into hits. I didn't care if they hurt me.”
He said he was terrible when he started playing baseball, but made the team as an outfielder in the eighth grade because of his speed and ability to catch the ball.
Reeves attributes much of his success as a batter to assistant coach Chance Whitten. “He helped me swing with my whole body instead of just my upper body. I had a bad habit of swinging with just arms.”
“He's a heck of a hitter, no doubt about it,” said head coach Chris Schuster.
Reeves was far from a one-man team. In fact, he was not the team batting leader. Alex Schuster, the coach's son, was batting .579 and four other Tigers were over .300. The only loss was 8-7 to Washington School in eight innings. It was the Tigers' third game in as many days.
“We ran out of pitching, The winning run was walked in,” Schuster said.
Reeves does not have an elaborate philosophy for batting. “I just try to hit the ball. See the ball; hit the ball.”
