Hodgen Distributing’s Blane Peal fields the ball as a River City Athletics player slides into second base on July 19, 2021, at Bob White Field in Pendleton. Hodgen won the first game 13-11 and lost the second 9-7.

ATHENA — Blane Peal is a three-sport athlete at Weston-McEwen High School, but his first love is baseball.

The senior right-handed pitcher recently signed a letter of intent to play baseball at George Fox University, Newberg, to continue his career on the mound.

“I’m very excited,” Peal said. “They are a good engineering school, which is what I was looking for. I met with their coach (Kevin Kopple) and he was a really super guy. We hit it off. It (George Fox) filled all the boxes I wanted. It was the perfect situation.”

There is so much to like about Peal as a player and a student. He is a 4.0 student and will receive an academic scholarship from the school.

On the field, Peal can pitch, play shortstop and hit the heck out of the ball.

“This will be a good thing for him,” TigerScots coach Shawn Pierce said. “He has a bright future. He is one of those kids — not just the athlete, but the human being that comes with it. No way any college coach would talk to him and say, ‘I don’t want that kid.’ ”

Peal was a first-team Blue Mountain Conference selection, and a first-team 2A/1A all-state player his junior year. He is the school’s lone first-team all-state player since Tyler Simmons in 2014, according to Pierce.

Weston-McEwen finished the modified spring season with a 6-7 record, but handed Dufur its first loss, 3-0 on May 1. Peal picked up the win in that game, allowing one hit and striking out 11.

On the year, Peal hit .630, with 10 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 23 RBIs and 22 runs scored. In 54 plate appearances, he only struck out three times.

He pitched 29.2 innings. He gave up seven hits, four earned runs, struck out 59, walked 14 and had an ERA of .94. He finished with a 4-0 record.

“His baseball numbers are ungodly,” Pierce said. “I’m very proud of him. He works super hard and he means a lot to me. He’s a great kid.”

Peal said he will be pitching at George Fox. He said they did not discuss whether he would see any action at the plate.

“Pitching has always been the most enjoyable part of baseball for me,” Peal said.

The Bruins are a program steeped in history. They won the 2004 D-III national title, have qualified for the national tournament eight times, have won 10 Northwest Conference Championships, and have turned out 23 All-Americans.

Pierce likes the fact he will have one more season with Peal before he heads off to college. His versatility pays dividends at a small school like Weston-McEwen.

“He pulls his big boy pants up and says, ‘If no one else is going to do it, I will,’ ” Pierce said. “At this level, if you have two, three or four kids like him, you win state titles.”

In the summer, Peal hones his skills playing legion ball with Hodgen Distributing in Pendleton.

Peal, who just came off a terrific season for the TigerScots on the football field, where he earned first-team all-conference honors as a quarterback, is now on the basketball court, ticking off the days until baseball starts.

“I like to go out and play with my friends,” Peal said of football and basketball. “It’s a lot of fun.”

The fun has only just begun.