Nansemond River senior center fielder Trevor Riggs translated a strong run with the Warriors into a signing with Radford University during a ceremony on Wednesday at Nansemond River High School.

It was the fulfillment of a goal Riggs said he has had since his eighth grade year.

“It’s a real big accomplishment, it’s a (Division I) school, I’m just real excited to go,” he said.

Riggs has been making a significant impact on the Nansemond River team for a while, including during the squad’s state playoff run in 2012, when he played in right field. After his final high school season this spring, he will be a 4-year letterman in the sport.

“This is something we definitely saw coming,” Warriors head coach Mark Stuffel said. “He’s extremely athletic. He’s the perfect kid for Radford.”

Riggs said he visited a few different colleges, but when he went to Radford, “It just stuck out in my mind.”

The campus was the highlight, and he said it was the school with which he felt he would be more successful in baseball.

Stuffel also cited Riggs’ work ethic, another quality that likely drew interest from the Highlanders.

“He’s the kid that’s always at the hitting facility,” Stuffel said, even when the coaches cannot be there with him.

Riggs gave credit to his father for giving him a good example to follow. “He’s a worker,” Riggs said.

Paul Riggs put the spotlight on the Nansemond River program and ultimately back on his son.

“They’ve got the system to make it work,” he said. “Kids have just got to put the effort in, and Trevor did.”

“It’s awesome,” Trevor’s mother, Anita Riggs, said Wednesday. “We just can’t thank the coaches at Nansemond River enough for this opportunity.”

Trevor Riggs said the coaches helped him reach this point by teaching him “to do things the right way.”

Both Riggs and Stuffel attested to the importance of the Warriors senior having parents who pushed him. Riggs said they helped ensure he kept his grades up.

They also made possible so many practices over the years, as well as school and travel ball games.

Paul Riggs said, “It’s been costly, it truly has been, but it’s been worth every penny.”

Paul and Anita Riggs have also had previous experience with raising young baseball players as Trevor’s older brothers both played in high school. Jeremy Riggs, who graduated from Nansemond River in 2004, is now a minor league umpire.

Stuffel expects Trevor Riggs’ role at Radford to be similar to the one with Nansemond River.

Riggs said the Highlanders coaches told him “they might spread me around the outfield.”

Though some road games may actually be closer to Suffolk, Radford home games will mean a four and a half to five hour trip for Riggs’ parents, but Anita Riggs said they will make it to “as many as we can.”