AUSTIN, TX - Austin Plante has excelled in athletics since he was young, the question early on was which sport would be part of his future - baseball or football.

Eventually, baseball became his number one option and the decision has paid off with a recent commitment to Texas Christian University.

“I took a visit to Arizona and loved it but two days later I was contacted by TCU and they wanted me to come on a visit,” Plante reflected. “But I couldn’t go due to the Fall Classic (PBR Fall Kickoff Showcase Games), so I waited a month and went on a visit.”

The wait was worth it for the Lake Travis junior outfielder.

“I fell in love with the place,” the 36th-ranked player in the state’s 2019 class said. “The coaches were amazing and the facilities were top notch. I knew then if I was given a scholarship opportunity I’d take it. I got a call the next day and then talked to my parents and said I was going to be a Horned Frog.”

TCU had a lot to like about the 6-4 225-pound left-handed hitting standout on the state’s top-ranked team.

“They liked how hard of a worker I am and how I hustle on and off the field,” Plante noted. “They like my swing and see things they can work on to make me a good hitter for them. They also like my character and that I’m humble.”

That characteristic is something Plante learned at a young age.

“Everybody told me in Little League I had the gift to play any sport I wanted to,” Plante reflected. “They said to be humble and not let it go over my head.”

It was then that Plante was a two-sport athlete.

“I’ve been playing baseball since I could pick it up, but in sixth grade I started playing football and played it until my sophomore year,” Plante noted. “At first I thought I wanted to do both, I have the athletic ability to do it, but I just lost interest in football. With baseball, I love every aspect about it. College baseball was a dream of mine with pro baseball the big goal.”

Now the fulfillment of that dream is less than two years away.

“I remember my summer coach telling me a pro scout wanted to watch me hit,” Plante said about the realization he had a future in the sport. “The scout told me he loved my swing and two days later my coach said another scout wanted to see me. Eventually there were five or six. It was then I came to the realization that I’m the type of athlete that could possibly get to college baseball and beyond.”

For a brief while, however, doubt came into the picture for Plante.

“Last year was a big struggle for me,” Plante admitted. “I did pretty good in the scrimmages but after that things didn’t pan out the way I hoped. I changed my swing around and it was hard to get a rhythm. I lost confidence.

“But when summer ball came around I started hitting and things took off. In the fall I was strong again. This spring things are going a lot better, it just all came around,” continued Plante, who is playing center field this season for Lake Travis. “In the outfield I’m reading the ball better and I’m hitting it well. My swing is where it should be. It all had to do with confidence.”

Showcases and camps helped Plante draw interest from colleges along the way.

“I went to two PBR events and was invited to two more that I couldn’t make,” Plante noted. “Those were definitely great to go to with the top-notch players there. To see and meet other talented players and get their point of view and to face that competition was really good for me.”

Still, there was some uncertainty for Plante.

“At the beginning of the school year I was going to camps every other week, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, all around Texas,” Planted noted. “I wasn’t getting frustrated … but maybe disappointed. I had the ability but I heard more ‘we like you but we want to see you at another camp’ kind of thing.

“Luckily it got to the point Arizona gave me an offer and then I took the TCU visit and fell in love with it even more than Arizona.”

Breaking the news about TCU to Arizona was not easy, Plante admitted.

“It was pretty difficult, the head coach was actually recruiting me,” Plante said. “He had even told my dad if I commit or not, to call him and talk about why I did or didn’t. It was a good conversation. It was just a gut feeling. When you compare the two both are good historically and at the present. TCU just felt like home and was where I wanted to be.”

A 3.5 student with plans to major in business, Plante credits his parents Aaron and Traci with being so helpful during his recruitment.

“They took so much time out of their work schedule,” Plante said. “My dad would drive me to every camp and paid money out of his pocket. I can’t thank them enough for being so supportive with the ups and downs.

“My summer coach (Brandon Puffer) was also phenomenal with his help recruiting and the confidence he gave me. I couldn’t do it without them and the gifts given to me by God.”

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