Baseball: Dow’s Stidham to play ball at Northeastern State

by Jason Wolverton

H.H. Dow High has officially added another name to its list of athletes playing college ball as the school announced that Zach Stidham has signed to play baseball at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma.

Family and administrators gathered together with the 6-foot-2 outfielder Friday morning to celebrate his decision to sign with Northeastern State, where he will play ball for the RiverHawks and study marketing and management.

“Baseball has been such a big part of my life ever since I was five or six years old,” Stidham said. “I always dreamed about playing college baseball.”

Stidham was a two-year starter for the Chargers and also spent three years on the varsity hockey team. This past season he hit .305, was fourth on the team in hits (25), third in runs (27), and tied for third in stolen bases (5).

“Zach is very excited about this opportunity as well as all of us here at Dow High,” said Chargers’ coach Kip Harris. “With hard work and juggling baseball and academics, Zach should have a nice career as a college baseball player.”

That college career, according to Stidham, was facilitated with a little family assistance. His cousin plays football for the RiverHawks and put Zach in touch with the baseball coach. The coach talked to a few scouts in the area and to Stidham’s travel coach before inviting him down. Eventually, Stidham was offered a scholarship to play for Northeastern State.

Stidham says he will spend the summer playing ball and working out, with the goal of adding weight. He says all the hard work will be worth it, though, when he heads to Oklahoma in the fall.

“I love it,” he said. “I’m very excited to play down south.”