Ben West signs with Angelo State
By Sam Waller
Even though the pandemic cancelled his senior baseball season in Albany, and things didn’t go exactly as he hoped at Weatherford College, Ben West has worked through the difficulties and earned a spot at the next level.
West, a 2020 Albany graduate, recently signed a letter of intent to continue his baseball career at Angelo State as a pitcher.
In 12 appearances in the 2022 season at Weatherford, mostly in relief, West posted a 1-2 record with a 5.73 ERA. He allowed seven earned runs on nine hits over 11 innings with eight walks and 12 strikeouts.
After being used more as a starting pitcher in high school, where he also played football and basketball and ran track, West said fitting in as a reliever was a tough adjustment.
“You have a really short leash regardless of how good you throw one day,” he said. “We had Wednesday-Saturday games, and there’d be times I’d throw on Wednesday and have the best performance of my life, then on Saturday I’d walk my first two batters, and I was gone. You don’t get another chance as a reliever, and I think that’s why some of my numbers were a little high.”
Along the way, West also had to balance academic demands with baseball.
“Being a college athlete is definitely a job,” he said. “You can’t slack off any day, any hour, or it’ll bite you. You’ve got somewhere to be every hour of the day.”
Despite the raw numbers, West showed the talent that got him an offer from the Rams.
“Knowing a school the caliber of Angelo State trusts me and believes in me gives me a little boost,” he said. “When I do have those bad outings, I can sit back and relax and know I’m here for a reason.”
West helped Weatherford to a 38-21 overall record and a 17-15 mark in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference, where the Coyotes finished fourth and grabbed the last spot in the NJCAA Region V tournament. Weatherford opened the tourney by knocking off top seed New Mexico Junior College and reached the final four before being eliminated.
“Qualifying for regional was the first goal, and we were glad we were able to accomplish that,” West said of pulling off the upset over NMJC. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the rest done.”
The Coyotes had won five of their last six conference games to secure the regional berth.
“People talk about how junior college baseball is a grind, and that’s the truth,” West said. “We played 56 games in the regular season, and 32 of those were conference games. It takes a lot of conference games to be able to win or lose the season regardless of how good your team is.”
While Weatherford had the talent to finish higher in the NTJCAC standings, the team battled to find consistency during the season.
“How you show up to the field each and every day is really what matters,” West said. “Ranger, Vernon, and North Central Texas may not have talent like Weatherford, Grayson, or McLennan, but those guys play hard. They’ll hit you in the mouth if you’re not ready, and that happened too many times this year.”
Coming within two games of qualifying for the NJCAA World Series left West wanting more.
“Obviously, we wish we could have gone on to the World Series, but it’s a gauntlet playing in our conference and Region V,” he said. “It possibly has the best JuCo baseball in America. The two conferences that come together for regional are top-notch, and every year there’ll be one or two teams competing at the highest level.”
West will join an Angelo State program that has high expectations. The Rams have advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series five times, including the last two seasons, out of 10 NCAA tournament appearances since 2007.
“They’re arguably a top-five program in the nation in Division II,” West said. “It’s going to be exciting being part of that. They’ve been to the World Series the last two years. Hopefully, we can make another good run like that and hopefully, I can play a role in that.”
