Milligan's quest to land a top-notch pitcher was found just around the corner only five minutes from campus. Ethan Fleenor cast his lot to play baseball for the Buffaloes on Friday before several of his teammates and coaches inside the school library.

The Happy Valley High School three-star athlete said it had always been a dream of his to play baseball for the Buffaloes. He's glad to be staying close to home.

"I grew up watching Happy Valley and Milligan College baseball and I always wanted to be a part of it," said Fleenor. "It been great being a Warrior but its also been tough because this is my third varsity coach in four years.

"My mom graduated from Milligan and some of my teammates that I played with here and now members of the baseball team. I think its neat getting to playing college baseball practically in my own back yard."

Fleenor's career atop Warrior Hill is a most memorable one.

He gathered all conference honors in baseball, basketball and football.
He also carried a 3.8 overall GPA in a addition to being a member of the National Honor Society.

Happy Valley athletic director Bernie Young said that Fleenor' departure would be a great loss to the school but a wonderful asset to Milligan College.

Several of his coaches were on hand to celebrate his signing.

Football coach Scotty Verran feels like his star quarterback over the past two seasons will make the Buffaloes proud.

"Ethan has been a tremendous athlete and leader for our football team both on and off the field, " stated Verran. "I know he'll be that same type of player for Coach Meade at Milligan."

Gerald Jenkins is in his first season as head baseball coach. He's expecting Fleenor to excel on the diamond.

"I've only had him one day because they've been tied up with basketball but we're counted on him to lead our pitching staff. He was a standout on the football and basketball teams and I expected him to have a good year in baseball."

Fleenor touched on his two of his most special moments as a baseball player.

"My most memorable moment as a player was playing for you and Rusty when our team won the 13-year old Babe Ruth State Championship and went to the Southeast Regional.  That will always stand out in the back of my mind.

"As a high school player it had to be when beat Elizabethton last year and I struck out my teammate Nick Jenkins to end the game. I remind him of that sometimes at practice."

Fleenor is looking forward to wearing the Milligan orange and Black but feels like his team has some unfinished business to take care of before he graduates.

"We've made it to the region the past two years so our goal this year is to get out of the region. We've got a good group of seniors and our goal is to possible host a sub-state game."

Fleenor credited his parents Dennis and Robin for him being where he is today. He also has a younger sister and brother Carrie and Eli.

All of them were happy with his choice.

"We left it all up to him but we feel good about his choice because Milligan is a great school," said Dennis. "It actually a little bit closer to home that Happy Valley is."

Robyn said that her son had given this a lot of thought.

"His whole life he's always made us proud by trying to do the right things. It's very close to our house so we can continue watching him play."

Milligan head coach Nathan Meade feels that Fleenor is the type of athlete that Milligan College is looking for.

"Ethan will be a good fit to our school both academically and athletically," said Meade. "He comes from a good home and has a good upside.

"He's already accomplished a lot of great things here and we're look for some good things from him at Milligan.  We lose eight senior arms next season so the opportunity will be there.

"The sky is the limit for him."