Heading south for the future
BURLINGTON, N.C. — With his son sporting a promising baseball future at Karns City, Rick Belles decided to increase his exposure.
So he packed up and moved his family south.
Belles, his wife and their son, Ty — who completed his freshman year with the Gremlins last spring — recently relocated to Burlington, N.C.
“Youth baseball is a totally different world down here,” Rick Belles said. “Ty will be seen by more college scouts and he'll be facing better competition in general.
“He'll become a better player and this will increase his college options. At least, that's the plan.”
Ty hit .286 for Karns City last spring. He hit two doubles and had an on-base percentage of .364. He also stole six bases.
He is playing fall baseball with an organization known as the Dirtbags, which is fielding seven 16U teams. Ty is playing for the 16U Gold Virginia squad.
That team plays weekend tournaments through the end of October at college sites including Virginia Tech, East Carolina, East Tennessee State and Liberty.
“The Dirtbags draw players from up and down the east coast, from Virginia to South Carolina,” Belles said. “Ty tried out and was selected to a team.
“Virginia Tech recently hosted a showcase solely for the Dirtbags. Ty had a good weekend there and now he's on their radar.”
Since 2002, the Dirtbags have had 242 players drafted by major league clubs and sent more than 1,000 to college baseball.
Belles' other son, Eric McCue, works as a registered nurse at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N..C. He helped Rick Belles get a job at the same hospital as a surgical attendant.
Belles' daughter, Erin McCue, lives in Maine.
“The opportunity was there for us to move down here and as a family, we felt it's what we should do to help Ty,” Belles said. “The whole thing just made sense.
“I got down here three weeks ago and my wife moved down last week.”
Ty now attends Western Alamance High School — in the large school classification in North Carolina — and is playing football there as a sophomore. He is a fullback-middle linebacker.
“For my family to just uproot everything and move down here to help my future ... It's just awesome,” Ty said. “I still have to catch up to the competition.
“At that Virginia Tech showcase, I faced a pitcher throwing 87 miles per hour — and he's 15. I've never seen that before. The pitching is much faster down here.”
Ty is playing third base, left and right field for the Dirtbags.
He's seen the football field in a backup role at Western Alamance this season.
“I practice football after school, then go home and hit tennis balls into a net in our garage,” Ty said. “Toward the end of the week, I get to a batting cage and get ready to play tournament ball on the weekends.
“College scouts are seeing me play all the time now. I have my family to thank for that.
“I'll never forget what they've done for me.”
