Brian Scott: Big-league player in the making

by Judith Hruz

Editor

It is the dream of many little boys to play professional baseball from the moment they pick up that first Wiffle ball bat.

Few of them make it to the Majors.

Olney resident Brian Scott has loved the sport since those early days.

“Baseball for me started when I was 3 or 4 with my dad when he signed me up to play T-ball with OBGC [Olney Boys and Girls Club] and ever since I started I loved it,” he said.

He found his way to travel ball when he was 8, playing for the Olney Pirates, where he admitted that he “really struggled at first.”

Scott did not give up. “After the first season, I really started to come to my own and become a really good player. That’s when I knew that it was for me,” he said.

Some would say that never-give-up work ethic is what makes Brian Scott different from those other Major League-wannabe’s.

His father, Brad Scott, executive director of the Olney Boys and Girls Club, believes in his son’s physical and mental abilities.

“Brian dedicated himself to getting better daily and often sacrificed time with friends or special occasions as we traveled the country playing the best competition,” Brad Scott said.

His dedication and sacrifice led him to a starring role on the Sherwood High School baseball team, the Cropdusters collegiate baseball team this summer and an upcoming role with the University of Maryland.

“It’s hard to put into words how much it has meant to me and how rewarding it has been to have gotten the opportunity to not only watch Brian play baseball, but to have been fortunate enough to coach him starting with T-ball at OBGC at 4 years old, moving to house baseball, and then later to watch and coach him with the Olney Pirates and Canes Baseball program,” Brad Scott said.

Brian played all four years on the varsity team at Sherwood, but high school baseball started out rough with his freshman year getting canceled after only five scrimmages due to COVID and his sophomore year ending a week before the season began with knee surgery.

“That was the year we won the first championship,” he said. “After that, I finally got to play my junior year and helped the team win our second championship going back to back. This year I contributed the most being a captain and not only hitting this year, but pitching again in a lot of big moments — leading to me closing out both the state semi-finals and state finals.

“I was All-Region both my senior and junior years and an All-Met honorable mention my senior year, while also playing in the Brooks Robinson Senior All-Star Game at Camden Yards.”

He said his biggest highlight was the state championship this year – going 3-3, leading the game off with a homerun and closing out the game in the last three innings.

He went right from his success at Sherwood to the Cropdusters’ season.

“The Cropdusters was an awesome experience for me with such a great coaching staff and great group of players around me,” Brian said. “It allowed for me to start to adjust to college-level pitching before a lot of other guys got the chance. And what made it even better was playing in my hometown in front of people I’ve known forever.”

Cropdusters Baseball, a 501c3 summer collegiate organization founded by Tony Kourson, plays at Olney Boys and Girls Club. This summer was the team’s second season.

Brad Scott said his son’s senior year at Sherwood was “rewarding” as he watched him help lead the Warriors to their third straight state championship, “culminating with such a huge performance in the championship game both hitting and pitching and then playing with the Cropdusters this summer. It truly meant a lot to me personally to get another chance to see him play at OBGC again on a team I think is so great for the community.

“Brian will be back again with the Cropdusters next summer with a full year of college baseball under his belt at University of Maryland.

Brian is majoring in kinesiology at Maryland.

“Professional baseball has always been my goal, but first I have to succeed and do well at the college level,” he said.

His dad is confident he will work for whatever he wants to achieve.

“I know Brian well enough to know he will continue working hard daily to get better,” Brad Scott aid. “Brian is lucky to play for one of the best coaching staff’s and head coaches in the country. Coach [Matt Swope] Swope has helped so many players reach their p