Butler High School's baseball program will not benefit from the skills of Mike Curran after all.

Curran, a freshman who hit nine home runs for the Pittsburgh North Stars' AAU team as a 12-year-old two years ago, along with pitching two perfect games in all-star tournament competition, is attending the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M.

His grandfather graduated from NMMI in 1930.

"It's a prestigious, regimented and disciplined school," said Michael Curran, Mike's father. "Mike is a goal-oriented person and this will help get him where he wants to go."

The younger Curran hopes to play baseball at a Division I college. He already stands 6-foot-0 and weighs 192 pounds.

NMMI won the New Mexico state baseball championship in 2002 and 2003 and reached the quarterfinals each of the past two years.

Known as the "West Point of the West," NMMI sends 80 to 100 cadets to West Point, the Naval Academy and Air Force each year.

"Academics come first," Mr. Curran said. "They come first at this school, too. If you don't succeed in the classroom, you don't play baseball."

Curran played for the Pittsburgh North Stars for four years. He never played organized baseball in school in Butler, though he attended school here through eighth grade.

His parents recently divorced. His mother still lives in Butler while his father moved to New Mexico Sept. 1 to help ease his son's transition.

"I was hit with a lot of change really fast," Curran said. "Not only my parents' divorce, but I was used to Butler and Pittsburgh.

"I came out here (NMMI) and there were a lot of Mexicans, Asians, African-Americans … I'm not speaking derogatory about them, it was just really different.

"If my dad didn't move out here, I doubt I'd still be here," he added.

"Mike ran into a lot more culture shock than I anticipated," his father said.

Students at NMMI experience a military lifestyle. Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach attended the school before moving on to the Naval Academy. Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb sent his sons to NMMI.

"This school runs on stress," the younger Curran said. "It tests your limits. In a public school, I worried about academics and my personal life. Here, it's academics, the corps and baseball."

Curran is carrying a 3.6 grade point average his freshman year and made the varsity baseball squad. He will play first base, third base and do some pitching for the squad this spring.

He is only the second freshman to make the NMMI varsity team in the past five years.

"I'm very surprised," he said. "I figured I'd be a junior varsity player for sure."

Baseball practice began at NMMI Dec. 15. The high school season begins Feb. 25 and runs until May 15. The team plays 35 games plus tournaments.

"We do a lot of running and calisthenics for conditioning," Curran said. "Our coach is a retired marine and he's big on mechanics.

"I don't expect to become a professional player, but if I can get a scholarship and play at a major college, I'll be happy."