Brody Rice doesn’t know when his baseball career will end.

He does know one thing for sure when it comes to the game he loves.

“I wanna play knowing I gave it all I could,” he said.

Rice is believed to be the first-ever Blanchester High School athlete to signed a full scholarship to play baseball in college. He has decided to continue his career at Division II Cedarville University.

Blanchester has had numerous players in baseball’s minor professional leagues. Randy Binkley is believed to be the only Blanchester player to be drafted by a Major League Baseball team. Rick Fenner played Division I baseball at Miami University.

Rice has played baseball since he was 6 years old. he began playing competitively when he was 8. He started playing pee-wee football as a 5 year old but baseball was always his sport.

“I’ve always had a love for the game,” he said. “I enjoy being with teammates and learning from all the awesome coaches I have had over the years. Starting at age 9 I gave up my summers every year to travel with my teams (Midland/Cincy Spikes) and would not trade that for the world.”

Rice, undecided on his college major but has considered forensic science, he said, said Tiffin, Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati also were among his final college choices.

“It is hard to put into words, but out of all the schools I looked at, Cedarville and coach (Mike) Manes just felt right,” Rice said.”When I visited there, the atmosphere was great, everyone was laid back and super relaxed and that’s how I am. It felt like family.”

Under Manes guidance, since 2008, Cedarville had had three players go on to play professionally, including twin brothers David and Ryan Ledbetter.

“My goal in baseball is to play for as long as I can knowing that I gave it my all. Whether that’s me playing my last four years in college or getting drafted,” said Rice.