Galen Smith, center seated, signs his letter of intent, with his mother Patsy, and father Kevin. Looking on, from left, is head baseball coach Bart Shuman, Valdosta High School principal Brett Stanton, grandmother Lucy Exum, Matt Herring, Galen's sister Ronni Smith, coach Justin Henderson, grandfather Bennie Smith, coaches Mark Kirksey and Adam Haire and Chance Reynolds with TNL Sports.

Smith becoming a Bobcat

Author: Christian Malone
Publication Date: December 21, 2007 The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — Galen Smith is ready to go from a Wildcat to a Bobcat.

Smith, Valdosta High’s senior catcher, has signed a scholarship to play baseball for Georgia College and State next season.

For Smith, a college baseball scholarship has been a big goal of his for a long time, and he is thankful he’ll get to play for GCSU.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play college baseball,” Smith said. “I want to play as long as I can.”

Georgia College and State has been one of Division II baseball’s better programs over the past 13 years. The Bobcats have made seven trips to the NCAA regional tournament (1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007), and made it to the College World Series in 1995, when they were the national runners-up. Last season, they went 46-16 and won their second consecutive Peach Belt Conference championship.

“They’ve got a good baseball program. They were ranked in the top 10 last year,” Smith said. “Seeing how good their program is helped a lot in my decision. Their coaching staff is good, and they help their players get better and reach the next level.”

Last year, as a junior, Smith batted .333 in the regular season with 12 RBIs, had a .458 on-base percentage, and played strong defense behind the plate. That earned him a first-team All-Region selection.

“I was real excited to get All-Region,” Smith said. “It showed me that all the work I’d put in had paid off.”

“Galen has been a pleasure to coach,” Valdosta head coach Bart Shuman said. “He’s got a great work ethic, he’s a great student, he’s very disciplined. He’s put in the time during the offseason, and has gotten better. I’m happy for him getting the scholarship to Georgia College and State, and I know he’s going to represent Valdosta High School well.”

Smith is looking forward to his senior season for the Wildcats. Valdosta graduated only three starters off of last year’s team, and is counting on this year’s senior-laden team, led by Smith and third-year starters Earl Daniels and Taylor Prain, to be one of its strongest in several years.

“I can’t wait for the season to start,” Smith said. “I think we’re going to be real good this year, with all the players we have coming back. This team has a real tight bond. If we win, we win as a team. It’s going to be hard, because everybody in our region is good. We’ve got to play well in our region games.”

“I’m looking forward to Galen having a great senior season for us,” Shuman said. “We’ve got a good nucleus coming back. I’m excited about it.”

Smith has enjoyed being a Wildcat, with his teammates and coaches, the past three years.

“I’ve enjoyed playing for Valdosta a lot,” he said.

Catcher is a grueling position, but Smith enjoys it. He says being a good defensive catcher is a big deal to him, and he has devoted a lot of time to learning how to play the position.

“I like to catch,” he said. “I like being in control of the situation. I like always being involved in the game. And I like throwing out runners trying to steal.”

Smith plays travel baseball in the offseason with TNL Sports, a team in Macon, and says the additional experience he’s gotten playing for TNL has helped him become a better player.

“Playing travel ball has helped a lot,” he said. “School ball is good, especially playing for Valdosta and playing in this region, but travel ball gives me a chance to play (most of the year). In travel ball, it gets you more exposure to college coaches. At a lot of the travel ball tournaments we play in, college coaches are there watching us play. My coach with TNL (Chance Reynolds) is a great coach, and he has had a lot of kids sign scholarships.

“The competition is very good in travel ball. Every player is good. Playing against those guys gets you better.”

Smith is an honor student (3.7 GPA) who plans to major in mass communication at GCSU, and hopes to become a broadcaster one day.