Senior Darrion Wesley has turned his childhood love for baseball into a lifelong passion. His ceaseless love for the game has come full circle with his recent commitment to play Division III baseball for North Central University.

Darion’s passion for baseball stemmed from his family. Inspired by his older brother, Darrion first picked up a baseball bat at just four years old — a moment that made him immediately fall in love with the sport. Darion’s father was his first coach, building up his fundamentals throughout Little League.

“I would really like to thank my dad,” Darrion said. “He always kept me pushing, threw me a lot of batting practice, and really allowed me to go to the next level.”

At nine years old, Darrion burned out playing catcher and decided to try out other positions. He tried out pitching and never looked back. Today, Darrion plays third position and pitcher for the Los Altos High School varsity baseball team, which he has played on for three years. 

On that Little League team and beyond, Darrion’s brother Dewy — according to Darrion, his biggest influence — was a constant. The duo played together for over a decade, from Little League to high school baseball

“He would definitely keep me working and always told me ‘You’re supposed to make me look good,’” Darrion said.  “I would always try to do better than him, but it was always in good fun. I’ll definitely miss playing on the same team.”

Throughout his baseball career, Darrion has played for various clubs, including the Sunnyvale Brushback Baseball Club last summer. Darrion attributes much of his success to his travel coaches, who allowed him to play at big tournaments with more competition and recruiters. 

“When he turns on the competitive switch, he can hang with anybody,” varsity baseball Head Coach Gabriel Stewart said. “Whether on the mound or the bat, he shows his competitive fire  and is unwilling to be beaten.”

Teammate senior Jagger Heath recalls playing with Darrion in the eighth grade and losing the NorCal championship. In their junior year of high school, they competed at the same tournament and won the whole thing, in what he calls “a full circle moment.”

“He has a passion that carries him through, on and off the field,” Jagger said. “We can always rely on him to come in and pitch whenever we need him, he’s one of the best hitters on the team.”

“The energy he brings to the team is really great,” varsity baseball co-captain senior Kai MacQuiddy said. “He’s always pumping other guys up — that’s to be missed.”

When considering college programs to join, potential playing time in each team was especially important for Darrion. It ended up being the main driver in his decision to commit to North Central University, which had a smaller baseball roster than other schools, meaning less sitting on the bench.

“I was definitely considering staying in California,” Darrion said. “But I didn’t think it was worth sitting out a year — I just wanted to play baseball.”