MADISON- The years of playing baseball through the ranks at Madison’s Palmer Park has paid off for Ryan Crawford. The Bob Jones High senior signed an athletic scholarship with Southern Union Community College of Wadley, Ala.

“I just wanted to play college baseball as that’s been my dream as long as I can remember,” said Crawford upon inking with the Bisons. “I’d gotten more or less to the point I’d play anywhere.”

Crawford plans on studying business in college and would love to work for a professional sports team as his career choice. He’ll carry a 3.5 grade point average to the small South Alabama school.

The son of Michael and Tibha Crawford, the 5-foot-11, 195-pound outfielder missed almost all of his junior season due to suffering a hamstring injury early in the 2019 campaign. He returned to the starting lineup in mostly left field and right field positions for the 2020 season only to see that cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was a three-year starter for the Patriots and could leave the yard on occasions, but was more of an on-base type of hitter who had lots of stats in the RBI department as the Pats’ lineup was filled with Div. I caliber players ahead of him. In the shortened 2020 season in 15 games, Crawford batted .364, with 12 hits with 5 RBIs and scored 5 runs.

“I have average speed, but a strong arm from the outfield,” said Crawford, who is a leader in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and member of the Beta Club. “I feel I’m a well-rounded athlete, strong, good on my feet and did everything I was asked as an athlete.”

Growing up in Madison, he played his years of youth baseball at Palmer Park. Those formable years began in T-Ball and soon grew into the other divisions that make up the baseball program in Madison. “Playing all those years were awesome, a ton of fun and will always remember,” added Crawford. “I used to attend games at Bob Jones and peer through the fence and dream of being a Patriot. I attended several Kids Camps at the school and knew one day I would be among the elite players on the squad.”

This fall, the former youth player in Madison will make the leap to being a young man playing in college wearing the blue and gold of the Bisons and achieving that strong desire to play at the collegiate level.