It's been a long journey for Royal Good after a couple of stops on the trip, an impressive showing this past fall has landed him a Division I scholarship.
Good, a 2006 Carson High graduate, recently signed to play baseball at New Mexico State. Good spent last season as a freshman at Cerro Cosso Community College in Ridgecrest, Calif., where he had a solid yeaar, earning Rookie of the Year honors in the Foothill Conference.
Good transferred to Lassen Community College in Susanville, Calif., and it was his hitting this fall that opened the eyes of a few Division I schools. Among the Division I schools recruiting him were North Carolina-Greensboro, Northern Colorado and Utah State.
But New Mexico State came forward with an attractive offer and Good jumped at the chance to sign. Good will play this spring at Lassen and will join the Aggies as a junior.
"It's always nice to get it out of the way and just be able to play baseball and not worry about who you have to impress," Good said. "Everybody wants to play Division I baseball. It took me a little longer to get there and I get to do it finally."
Good also had an impressive showing this past fall during a doubleheader at the University of Nevada. Good had four hits, including a triple and two doubles, in the two scrimmages against the Wolf Pack.
"It was nice," Good said. "It was good to go out and to have a good day at the plate. Everyboyd enjoys that."
And Good will receive the chance to play Nevada again as the Aggies are a member of the Western Athletic Conference along with the Wolf Pack.
"I get to come back to UNR and play them," Good said. "It's nice to play your hometown team. I have awesome friends going up there and I'll get to play against them."
Good is an attractive recruit since he's a left-handed hitter with speed who can play in the outfield or in the infield. Good can also hit at the top of the lineup as either a leadoff or No. 2 hitter.
At Carson, Good played centerfield. He played second base at Cerro Coso last season and is playing second base at Lassen.
New Mexico State recruited Good as an outfielder, but there's the possibility he could play in the infield as well. With the Aggies, Good will play under two coaches with impressive pedigrees in head coach Rocky Ward and assistant coach Gary Ward.
Gary is Rocky's father and led Oklahoma State to 10 College World Series appearances while he was the head coach with the Cowboys.
"Good is a versatile player that can play all outfield positions and brings a top of the lineup caliber offensive game with him," Rocky Ward said.
Good gave much of the credit to Lassen's coaching staff for landing him the Division I chance.
"They did a lot of the work behind the scenes," he said. "They just worked their butts off to get it done for me. I worked hard, played just how I played. You can only do so much."