Blake Bolt finally heard his name called after what seemed like 5 years in the dugout. Starting in Center Field….Blake Bolt! Blake, or Bolt as his teammates call him was finally about to play in his first college baseball game at UNC Wilmington. Their mascot was the Seahawks. Blake was a standout center fielder at Kings Mountain High School, leading the state of North Carolina in assists, batting average, and on base percentage. He also led North Carolina in triples with 19, all this earning him a full ride scholarship. Bolt was ecstatic to begin his baseball career and it all started with what he was doing at the very moment. Bolt jogged out to his starting spot in center field as a freshman at Wilmington. His teammates loved him and the whole town couldn’t wait to see him play.
     Blake made a diving catch in Center Field the first play of the game. The fans cheered until the inning was over. He had already began to become a star in Wilmington. The young phenom batted second in the order and got a double in the right-center gap in his first college at bat knocking in his teammate Braxton Johnson who led off the inning with a walk. The fans went wild and so did his teammates in the dugout. The Seahawks put up a 4 run inning and eventually won the game 9-1. Blake finished the game with 11 assists and went 2-4 at the plate with 3 RBIs.
     Blake soon was leading all of the NCAA freshman in hits and batting average after his first 48 of 60 games. He had hit 7 walk off hits as well. The Seahawks were racing for first place in the conference in a dead tie for first with College of Charleston. College Of Charleston’s coach and athletic director knew what they had to do to get the freshman phenom from a small town out of the way of their conference championship….
     Charleston and Wilmington were playing in one week from today which gave the coach and athletic director plenty of time to plan out their evil plan…. After one week, the Seahawks had a one game lead over Charleston one game before the shootout for the conference lead. The two teams played on Friday and by Wednesday, the day Wilmington played last place Towson, was the day Charleston’s coach Doug Richards and the athletic director, Skip Smith was going to execute their twisted plan. 
     Blake was leaving his 10 o’clock chemistry class to head to the field to warm-up for the 4 o’clock game with Towson when a black SUV pulled up to him. Inside were three very large men that looked like offensive lineman in the NFL. One of them hopped out and tackled Blake to the ground. Blake was somehow able to get free and he started sprinting for his life. Another one of the large men hopped out to chase down Blake with the one who had tackled him. ‘How are you going to let him get free, Butch!?”, yelled the one who got out to help Butch. Butch was able to cut off Blake and trap him in between two old college buildings that were no longer in use. The other man blocked off Blake’s other escape path. The two men came in on Blake and started beating him until he was no longer conscious.
     Bolt woke up 2 hours later to the sound of sirens in the distance. He looked at his ankle and it was badly bruised and so were his arms and his head ached. Luckily he had no broken bones except his left index finger was oddly bent. An ambulance and a few policeman arrived, along with Coach Brooks and a few of his teammates. His teammates picked him up and carried him to the ambulance to take a seat. Coach Brooks was freaking out. The policeman began asking Blake questions. “What do you remember what happened, son”?, one of them asked Blake. “I don’t remember a thing except that there was a large guy named Butch, and I think he had two or three friends.” Blake was taken to the hospital and missed that day’s game with Towson. Wilmington lost 3-2 taking a major loss to Towson and putting them in a tie for first with Charleston.
     Blake was taken to the Wilmington Medical Center to find out he had a sprained ankle and a broken finger on his left hand. He also had bad bruises. The doctor said Blake would be out until the last three games of the year and all he could do was watch his team from the dugout and cheer them on.
     Doug Richards and Skip Smith were looking at the three oversized men with appraisal. “Outstanding Work.”, said coach Richards. You have all three earned your pay. The three men each got their $10,000 and began to leave Charleston’s facility with satisfaction yet a little discomfort. An NCAA investigation began the next day and it was all over ESPN about Blake Bolt “NCAA baseball star and future of the MLB” goes down. “They will never suspect it was us!” said Skip Smith. Doug was nodding in approval as the two men couldn’t wait for tomorrow’s game with the Seahawks for first place.
     With 11 games left in the season, Wilmington and Charleston were about to play that Friday afternoon with a cool summer breeze and a game time temperature of 84 degrees. Blake cheered happily from the dugout even though he wanted more than anything to be out on that beautiful field. He didn’t even care who had done those horrible things to him. He just wanted to be back out there with his teammates. Baseball was his life. Charleston demolished the Seahawks that day 12-3, taking first place. It was obvious, Wilmington needed Blake.
     Somehow, Wilmington managed to stay close with Charleston up until Bolt returned. They were only two games behind first place with three games left in the season. His first game back, Blake took his starting position in center field and when his name was called over the intercom the fans went insane. The Seahawks won that day over James Madison by a score of 5-2. Blake went 1-4 at the plate with a homerun and 2 RBIs. Charleston lost to Northeastern that day putting the Seahawks only down by one game with two games to go.
     Wilmington somehow beat Elon on the road three days later after being down by 3 runs going into the top of the ninth and getting four runs that inning and then shutting down Elon in the bottom half of the ninth to win the game. Charleston and Hofstra played that night at 7 o’clock. Blake and all of his teammates piled into the clubhouse to watch the game together when they returned from Elon. Blake had a paper due in chemistry that night but he didn’t care, this was the most thrilling past few days of his life. Blake was an outstanding student as well as athlete making all A’s in his classes. The Charleston Cougars lost to the second worst team in the conference that night on a miracle victory by Hofstra, putting the Seahawks and Cougars in a dead tie for first place, with the conference champion deciding game in two days.
     The NCAA investigation had not yet to be solved. “Our plan has backfired.” said Coach Richards. “We are right back to where we were!” said Skip. The NCAA was calling it the game of the year. ESPN, MLB network, every major sports network was there to broadcast the final game of the year that Tuesday afternoon in Wilmington, North Carolina. It was sunny, perfect baseball weather for a perfect game. The two teams tied for first, each ranked nationally in the top 10, were about to square off. Blake’s name was called over the intercom to take his starting position. All the cameras zoomed in on him and the fans were wild. Coach Richards scowled to himself in the away dugout. The game went all the way to the 7th inning without any runs being scored. Coach Brooks started their ace, Will Newton, that day and he was having the game of his life, only giving up one hit. Wilmington only had three hits and Blake had two of them, both singles. The Cougars scored in the top of the 7th inning on a home run by their catcher, putting them up by one run going into the bottom of the seventh. The Seahawks were unable to answer in the bottom of the inning. Neither team scored in the 8th and Charleston was unable to add more in the top of the ninth. Going into the bottom half of the ninth was the last chance for Wilmington. Batting fourth that inning, was Blake Bolt.
     The leadoff hitter that inning for the Seahawks popped up to the catcher but the second batter, Timmy Axford was able to get a single the next at bat. Braxton Johnson was batting next. He was second on the team in hitting behind Blake. Braxton worked the count to 3-2 and then hit a laser to right putting Axford on third and Braxton on first, bringing up the best collegiate player in the country up next, Bolt. Blake was up to bat and the Seahawks wouldn’t have anybody else batting in this situation. Blake crushed the first pitch he saw way far down the third base line but landed just foul. Blake took the next 3 pitches as balls. The next pitch was right down the pipe and he hit it harder than any ball he has ever hit before it felt like. The ball hit off the right center gap easily scoring Axford and Braxton was chugging around third as soon as the throw came in from the right fielder. The relay throw was at the same pace as Braxton’s feet. However, the throw was over the catcher's head and Braxton slid in easily winning the game for the Seahawks and making them the conference champions. “Wow.” said Doug Richards. “I got what I deserved.”
     The Seahawks went deep into the NCAA tournament losing the college world series final to the University of Mississippi State. Blake won every freshman award possible and almost won national player of the year. Blake decided to comeback and play one more year with Wilmington skipping the MLB draft. In an interview asking why he did this he said “I just want to come back and win a championship for my school and the greatest team I have ever played on.”