By Terry Mosher

Editor, Sports Paper

North Kitsap senior Daniel Jewett goes into the spring high school baseball season secure in the knowledge that his immediate future is already taken care of, as far as where he will play college ball.

Jewett committed to Truman State in December and will play for the Bulldogs beginning this fall. Truman State is an NCAA D-2 school located in Kirksville, Mo.

“He was looking for a smaller school that was kind of out of the area,” said North Kitsap coach Jeff Weible. “He visited and liked what he saw from the coaches. They have struggled for a couple years and are trying to turn the program around.”

Jewett is a 5-foot-9 left-handed pitcher and outfielder who will be used primarily as a pitcher at Truman, which last year under fourth-year coach Dan Davis went 11-45. He choose Truman over Washburn University (Kansas), Northern State University (South Dakota) and Whitworth and Willamette.

“They had my ideal major (Criminal Justice) and when I went out there, I loved it,” Jewett said. “It was beautiful. It was kind of our town (Poulsbo) in a way. It’s very scenic, even though it was kind of flat.”

“The college itself was brick buildings. It reminded me of my sister’s college.”

Jordan Jewett is a sophomore at North Carolina University at Greensboro where she is an outfielder on the fastpitch softball team. Jordan made 48 starts, 47 of them in right field, last year as a freshman, hitting .261 on the season. She finished strong, though, batting .415 over the last 13 games.

The Truman coaching staff saw Daniel Jewett when he was a sophomore and attended a baseball camp in Omaha, Neb. They had been in contact with Jewett for months prior to him making a visit to the school in early December.

He worked out with team and the coaching staff liked what they saw and offered him a scholarship.

Asked what the weather was like when he visited, Jewett laughed.

“It was really snowy,” Jewett said. “It was pretty cool, even though it was two degrees it didn’t feel too bad. I kind of liked it. It was something new.”

Weible, who has a very talented squad this spring, says Jewett, “is a pretty steady player. He’s a good student (3.79 grade point) and is real dedicated. He really works hard in the offseason and loves playing the game.”

Although Jewett is not big (5-9 170), Weible says he makes up for the lack of size with his work ethic and his desire to be the best he can. That desire got him a starting spot as a sophomore and he hasn’t given it back since.

A solid hitter, Jewett prefers to pitch because it keeps him in the game on every pitch.

“When you get to pitch you get to carry the team on your shoulders and that’s what I kind of like,” Jewett said.

He throws a fastball in the lows 80 and mixes in a curve and changeup. He and Alex Smith will likely be the top two pitchers for North Kitsap this spring. Smith’s older brother is Andy Smith, who is a starting freshman outfielder for the Washington Huskies.

Jewett, the son of Lisa and Stan Jewett, wants to study criminal justice because he wants to be a federal marshal or work with the FBI.