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Glenwood Springs High School senior Dylan Lee has been working toward a chance to play collegiate baseball for the past six or seven years. Now, after earning an academic scholarship to Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California, its a reality.
Lee, who is in the midst of his senior season with the Demons baseball program under head coach Eric Nieslanik, signed his national letter of intent to join the Kingsmen’s storied program last week inside Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium in front of family and friends.
Signing that letter of intent was a dream come true for Lee.
“It was so awesome to be able to do that,” Lee said Friday afternoon in a phone interview. “Signing a letter of intent was something I’ve envisioned since I was 8 years old, so it’s definitely a dream come true. “
A two-year starter on varsity for the Demons, Lee is currently hitting .410 for Glenwood this season — which leads the team, while driving in 19 runs on 17 singles, six doubles, one triple and one home run. For his high school career to this point, Lee is a .306 hitter with 31 runs batted in, eight doubles, one triple and two home runs, while serving primarily as Glenwood’s starting first baseman. Defensively, Lee has a .948 fielding percentage with 152 career putouts.
This season, Lee has added starting pitcher to his resume, working 22 innings for Glenwood, allowing 16 earned runs with 14 walks and 16 strikeouts, going 2-0 on the year.
As a new member of the Kingsmen, Lee said head coach Marty Slimak will use him as a first baseman and outfielder, which will mostly depend on how the rest of Cal Lutheran’s recruiting class shakes out.
“They have a senior first baseman and two senior outfielders, so we’ll see where I end up,” Lee said. “I’m just super excited to be joining the program. I called the coach after one of their practices and told him I was committing to them and he was just super excited. It feels like a great fit.”
Lee’s interest in Cal Lutheran started last summer where as a member of a travel baseball team in Grand Junction, he traveled to California for a tournament. From there, the senior knew he wanted to play collegiate baseball in California due to the warm weather, so he reached out to a number of schools expressing interest. From there, Cal Lutheran brought him in for an academic scholarship interview, which he was granted, and also met with Slimak.
In the end, the warm weather and the chance to join a program that has produced 24 MLB draft picks and 26 All-Americans, while also recording six NCAA World Series appearances, 15 NCAA West Regional Appearances and 14 SCIAC Championships was too good to pass up.
“It just means a lot to join this program and get the chance to play baseball at the next level,” Lee said. “It’s something I’ve worked so hard for the last six or seven years, so to get the chance to do this shows me all of that hard work is paying off. It feels great to know that I’m capable of playing at the next level, too.”
The senior will head to Thousand Oaks in late August to start his freshman year. In the classroom, Lee will study business administration.
“They have a finance program, so I want to go on and be a money manager of some sort,” Lee said. “I’m just excited to get going.”
Lee and the Demons return to action Monday in a 4A Western Slope League doubleheader against the visiting Palisade Bulldogs, before then hitting the road for an away doubleheader May 11 against Steamboat Springs. The Demons wrap up the regular season May 13 against Eagle Valley at home. Glenwood should get into the playoffs once again, as the Demons sit second in the league standings with one loss behind 10-0 Palisade.