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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Elliot Ashbeck is a three-sport standout, earning all-Wisconsin Valley Conference honors in football, basketball and baseball during his four years at Marshfield High School.
In order to continue playing a sport at the next level, Ashbeck was left with a tough decision. In the end, he went with what has always been his passion – baseball.
Ashbeck signed a letter of intent recently to play baseball on scholarship at NCAA Division I school Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.
The chance of playing Division I football was “enticing,” Ashbeck said, but he decided he didn’t want to wait to see when, or if, any scholarship offers would come forward in the next few months and took what he had in a chance to play baseball at Bradley.
“I could have waited to see what was going to happen with football,” said Ashbeck, who set a school record with 3,587 career passing yards as the Tigers’ quarterback. “There were a couple of calls from some schools but without a concrete offer, I decided not to wait until the signing period in February and decided to go with baseball.
“Baseball has always been my passion. I have always wanted to play college baseball and hopefully go on and get drafted. In the end I had to do what’s best for me.”
Ashbeck has earned all-WVC honors in all three years of his baseball career. He was a second-team outfielder as a freshman, a first-team utility and pitcher selection as a sophomore after going 6-1 on the mound and hitting .421, and was a second-team choice as a pitcher last spring when he was 4-2 with 43 strikeouts in 41 innings in conference play for the Tigers.
He has played nearly every position on the field for Marshfield, including mostly catcher and pitcher a year ago. Ashbeck said he will get a chance to compete for playing time right away in the 2013 season at Bradley, which is all he wanted.
“They obviously didn’t guarantee me playing time, but if I work hard, and they like that I swing the stick from the left side, that I would get a chance to compete,” Ashbeck said, adding he would likely pitch and get a chance to play the corner infield and outfield positions.
Ashbeck said the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was also in the mix, but he chose Bradley because of its facilities and its strong conference ties.
“The Missouri Valley Conference is a very good baseball conference,” Ashbeck said. “They have teams going to the World Series in Creighton and Wichita State. In order to be the best, you have to play the best. Bradley is an up-and-coming program. Coach (Elvis) Dominquez is in his fourth year and he’s building a good program.”
Bradley’s 2012 recruiting class was ranked No. 2 in the MVC according to Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after finishing 2011 with a 22-32 record and a 4-17 mark in the conference.