Towanda's Martin signs with Penn State-Altoona.
By: Coy Gobble | Towanda Daily Review | May 20, 2017
2017 NTL and District 4 News
Towanda's Shane Martin will continue his baseball career with Division III Penn State-Altoona next year.
Martin signed his letter of intent to play for the Nittany Lions in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference on Friday morning.
"I like the small school setting," Martin said about Penn State-Altoona. "I liked the campus and felt like it would fit me nicely."
The Penn State-Altoona coaches already have plans in place for Martin next year.
"The coaches told me I'm a well-rounded player and they could use me, mainly in the outfield. They said they'd like to see me and a few others coming in out there."
Martin doesn't just have athletic plans, but some academic ones as well.
"I plan on majoring in business with a focus on accounting," Martin said. "Maybe some day I could take over the family business with that education."
Martin has not ruled out going to Penn State's main campus in the future either.
"It depends on the situation. I may do the two-and-two to go to main campus after two years if everything goes alright baseball-wise and if I feel like I could walk-on to the baseball team."
Martin was held out of most of the baseball season this year because of an injury sustained before the season.
"It was tough in the beginning, but my coaches said you build yourself through adversity, so I just kept my head high and helped my teammates out as much as they needed. It means a lot to play post-high school. I've been playing baseball ever since I could pick up a bat when I was four. It feels like the next step."
Martin had a long journey to this point in his career, but looking back his favorite memory was just in the rear-view mirror.
"Tonight, in the last game of the season against NEB, Lars Thomason hit a walk-off to prevent NEB from advancing to districts. It felt great to watch the whole team come together with a win. It was a slow season but it came together nicely at the end."
"Shane's been a solid ball player for his entire career at Towanda," Towanda coach Bill Sexton said. "He battled adversity this year and came back sooner than expected from a tough injury. He started coming to practice every day in a boot and worked his way up to a playing level this year. It's nice that he'll be able to play healthy next year."
