Suffolk News-Herald

Last season, Robert Hedrick hit up a storm at Lakeland, leading the team in homers and making the Second All-District team as both a shortstop and a pitcher. A few years from now, he’ll be trying to track storms down.

&uot;I’ve always wanted to work at the National Hurricane Center in Florida,&uot; said Hedrick, who will start his ambition to work in the storm fields this fall at the University of California in Pennsylvania (it’s located in California, Penn., about 35 miles southwest of Pittsburgh). &uot;I want to be in the plane that flies through hurricanes. I don’t want to be the pilot; I want to be the guy in the back that’s making all the measurements.&uot;

UCA in PA was one of the few schools that allowed the senior Cavalier to pursue his two top interests of baseball and weather. He received the Blitzman scholarship, given to the school’s top incoming athlete.

&uot;I’m definitely going to try playing ball there,&uot; said Hedrick after helping his American Legion 57 team to a 10-0 victory over Churchland Saturday at Lakeland. His teammate Chase Nelson, a fellow Cavalier, will be attending the University of Virginia.

&uot;I liked everything about the school,&uot; said Nelson, whose All-District selections in both football and baseball (as well as helping the Lakeland basketball team to the district playoffs the past two seasons) won him the honor of Lakeland’s top male athlete last season. &uot;It’s got a good atmosphere. If I got accepted, I was definitely going to go there.&uot; Besides playing even more Cavalier baseball (the college also carries the nickname), he’ll be majoring in mechanical engineering.