On Nov. 27, three-sport athlete and Minot High letter winner Chase Burke verbally committed to play baseball at Mesa Community College in Arizona.

In addition to playing center field for the Magicians, Burke also competes in football and wrestling at the varsity level. He says making the commitment to baseball was an easy decision as it is the sport he is most passionate about.

“I love playing baseball because it teaches you a lot about life,” Burke tells The Minot Daily News. “In baseball, you really learn how to deal with failure and how to bounce back from it. The game teaches you how to be resilient and how to work hard at everything you do.”

Having played baseball since tee-ball, Burke reveals he started to take the sport seriously at around the age of 12. From there, his desire to improve helped fuel the interest in continuing his childhood passion on the baseball diamond.

“Once I started working out a lot and getting better at it, I guess that’s why I wanted to keep playing. I would say I play with a lot of energy and I can be a spark plug for any team I’m a part of,” Burke adds.

The Minot High senior states one of his favorite baseball players to watch is Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins. While Burke admires Buxton’s range and ability to track the ball in the outfield, he insists that he does not model his game after any specific player. Instead, he aims to mold his own path on the diamond.

“I’m just trying to be myself out there, so I wouldn’t say I want to be like any other player specifically,” the baseball prospect says.

On the field, one of Burke’s biggest asset is his speed, as well as his hitting abilities which includes power at the plate. At Mesa, Burke plans to major in engineering and aspires to eventually make his way onto a Division I baseball program.

“The goal is to get to the D-I level. There were a couple of other local schools I was looking at like Jamestown and the University of Mary, but I thought Mesa was the best fit for me moving forward,” Burke says.