Seminole Ridge High School senior infielder Kyle Andrew will continue his academic studies and baseball career at the next level.
After graduating from Seminole Ridge later this spring, he will pack his bags and head south to Miami Gardens to pursue a college degree and play baseball for the St. Thomas University Bobcats, a member of the Sun Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Andrew, who plays both second base and shortstop, had a .356 batting average during his junior year. A defensive specialist, Andrew had only two errors during the entire 2021 season.
Seminole Ridge head baseball coach Paul Brill feels that St. Thomas will be fortunate to have such a dedicated and passionate student-athlete on the team.
“Kyle is very dedicated. He’s a hard worker. He works extra hard on his hitting and fine-tuning his craft as middle infielder,” Brill said. “Kyle has great range and is a great leader on our team. He’s a boss man on the field.”
Meanwhile, Seminole Ridge diver Bryson Hayden has accepted a scholarship offer from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. Hayden will be on the college’s swimming and diving team.
Hayden qualified for the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 4A state championships all four years as a high school student at Seminole Ridge. As a senior this past fall, Hayden was the regional champion and he finished eighth in the FHSAA’s Class 4A one-meter diving competition, which was held in Stuart at the Sailfish Splash Waterpark.
According to Seminole Ridge diving coach Tim Snyder, Hayden is a rare diving talent.
“Bryson arrived his freshman year with the potential to do very well in diving, including qualifying for the state championships, even though, up to then, he had no diving training,” Snyder said. “Over his four years at Seminole Ridge, he would place as high as second at the FHSAA state meet. Bryson’s background in gymnastics gave him a head start on rapid improvement, so much so that within a few months, he was scoring high enough to qualify for districts, regionals and state championships.”
Snyder remains impressed by Hayden’s abilities.
“He has great power off the board, giving him good height and time to do the more difficult dives,” the coach said. “That power can be a double-edged sword in that keeping it under control can be a challenge. Joining a year-round diving club in Jupiter has helped him harness that power, and I look forward to seeing him continue to develop the potential that I saw that first day at his new school up in Brooklyn. Forward-spinning dives are his strongest groups.”
