Nevada Griffons shortstop Tommy Fitzgerald connected on this swing for a solo home run during Sunday's game against the El Dorado Broncos. To cap off his performance, Fitzgerald, in his second year with the Griffons, hit an inside the park walk-off home run to lead the Griffons to victory in the game. --Ralph Pokorny/Daily Mail

Nevada Griffons shortstop Tommy Fitzgerald has been what some might call a baseball fanatic all his life.

He grew up just playing around at home with his brothers and his dad, but has come a long way from the days of sitting at home watching major league games and sharing his father's love of the sport. He's now come from that ordinary young boy with a love for baseball, fueled by his father and brothers, to a member of the 2007 All Jayhawk League second team, with goals of one day going pro.

Fitzgerald has been a fan of the game and interested in playing for as long as he can remember. After his days of playing around at home with his brothers, he never stopped playing or missed a step. He kept right on going with little league teams, local community leagues, and right on into high school and beyond.

Fitzgerald does consider himself a quality player and deserving of his spot on the team, but continues to hold a modest attitude. He's not one to let the exposure and talent that he has gained go to his head, trying repeatedly in the interview for this story to think of something "a little less boring" to talk about, pertaining to his career.

"I was a good player in high school, but I got better in my two years at Fort Scott Commmunity College," Fitzgerald said. He was recruited to play for the Griffons right out of high school by head coach John Hill III, but decided to go to community college first and hone his skills before coming to play for Nevada.

Now a senior at Bradley University, his selection to the All Jayhawk League second team took Fitzgerald completely by surprise. "When I found out, obviously I was real happy," he said. Since the award was handed out so late, Fitzgerald said that he didn't even know that he had been given any awards, and thought that the awards must have already gone out to other players on other teams.

Fitzgerald shared similar honors with four other players on the Griffons' 2007 roster, but that doesn't make his accomplishment any less exceptional. With a batting average of .316 with eight doubles and 21 RBI in 53 games, Fitzgerald was among the top players in the Jayhawk League. Fitzgerald's 2007 statistics also boasted a .362 slugging percentage, .398 on base percentage and .926 fielding percentage with 110 assists and six stolen bases in eight attempts. He was third on the team in hits, with 56 and in at-bats, with 177.

Proving his abilities as an all-around player, Tommy even got come time on the mound, pitching one scoreless inning earning himself a win.

Fitzgerald is now focusing on entering his senior year at Bradley and working toward his graduation, which is set for next spring, but he does plan on entering the Major League draft after he gets out of school.

He knows and will openly admit the the draft is a very unpredictable prospect, but his hopes are still high. "I'll play as well as I can. If nothing happens, nothing happens," he said of his future plans.

He does have a backup plan, though. Unsure of what he really wants to do if continuing to play baseball doesn't work out, Fitzgerald is currently majoring in Political Science, but also says that he would not come back to play Jayhawk League baseball for fun after his college career is over.

Fitzgerald has continued the performance he showed last year, putting up some fairly big numbers early in this season. He sports a .300 batting average in 40 at-bats this year, with a slugging percentage of .360 and an on-base percentage of .317. He's also scored 10 runs and notched 14 hits, with two doubles, four RBI and only one error to go along with his 34 assists on the defensive side of the ball.

He continued his offensive fire over the weekend, hitting two home runs in a single game, including an inside-the-park home run that catapulted Nevada to a 4-3 win in Sunday's game over the El Dorado, Kan., Broncos.

As a team, the Griffons hold a 12-4 overall record, with a league record of 8-4 and are currently out on a seven game roadtrip, starting in Dodge City, and will return to Lyons Stadium on Tuesday, July 2, facing the Joplin Slashers.