Hitting Machine:

Junior outfielder Keaton Jones came to Truman in fall 2005 with every intention of playing baseball. But his journey to college baseball hit a bump three years ago, and if he had not been willing to make a sacrifice, he might never have played an inning at Truman.

Jones tried out for the baseball team his freshman year when Lawrence Scully was head coach Jones but did not make the team. Jones had been a catcher in high school, and at the time, the 'Dogs did not need any more catchers.

But Jones never lost the desire to play during the one-year absence from baseball. Head coach Dan Davis said that when he arrived in 2006, Jones approached him and told him that he could play outfield if the coaching staff wanted him to. Davis gave the experiment a try, and now Jones has developed into one of the Bulldogs' most consistent offensive threats. He leads the team with a .330 average.

"The thing that I saw about Keaton is that he can hit," Davis said. "And anytime you have a college kid that can hit, you find a place to put him in the field. … Even when he's not getting a hit, he's hitting the ball hard, and that's all you ask your guys to do."

Jones played high school baseball at City High School in Iowa City, and he was named team MVP as a senior in 2005. He also received first-team all-conference honors as a senior and led the team with 40 hits during the conference season. Even with all of his success in high school, Jones said he was not heavily recruited. He said that besides Truman, his only other option to play baseball in college was to play at one of Iowa's Div. III schools.

"When I looked at Truman, academics and stuff were a big part of it, but I felt like maybe when I got here I would have a chance to play quite a bit based on what the program has been like," Jones said.

Ever since Jones walked on to the team prior to the 2007 season, the quiet, unassuming outfielder has been one of the Bulldogs most consistent contributors. In 2007, his first year on the team, he started all 49 games for Truman and led the team with 172 at-bats, while hitting .297.

Last season he kept up the production offensively by hitting .291 again with a team-high of 11 doubles.

In addition to leading the team in batting average this season, Jones also leads the team in doubles (6), RBIs (22), total bases (42), slugging percentage (.462), on-base percentage (.394) and is second on the team lead with two home runs. Jones also leads the team by hitting .400 with runners on base.

"I call him clutch," sophomore first baseman Matt Herrick said. "He's the guy I would say I want in clutch situations. He seems to pull through in those situations."

Although there never was any doubt that Jones could hit, his defensive play has helped mold him into an all-around player. So far this season, Jones has yet to make an error in 40 attempts. He also added an outfield assist earlier this season. In fact, Jones never has had trouble making the adjustment from behind the plate to the outfield. During Jones' career, he has made only three errors.

"That's a pretty tough transition for a guy who's used to squatting behind the plate," Jones' high school coach Dennis Knoop said. "But I think that the upside there is you are involved in the game so much as a catcher that it transfers to the outfield. You are always going to be in the game - know what's going on, where the ball's got to go. The thought process is there. … He's the kind of kid you want to have in your program. He did everything you asked of him. He was a hard worker."

As Truman tries to build a winning program under Davis, Jones continues to do his part to make sure the future of Bulldog baseball is bright. He said he hopes the team can break their streak of 27 straight losing seasons. And before he graduates, he hopes to help get the Bulldogs to the MIAA Tournament, a place the 'Dogs have never been in the eight-year history of the tournament.

"It's been tough because we haven't won many games since I've been here," Jones said. "It seems like my first couple years we really weren't expected to win a lot of games, so changing that attitude where we are expected to win games will help a lot."