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Kennett graduate Zane Wallace hopes to enjoy full baseball season with Lyons College following brain surgery
Kennett baseball player Zane Wallace (pictured) recently signed to play baseball at Lyons College in Batesville, Arkansas.
2018 Kennett graduate Zane Wallace has entertained the idea of playing baseball at Lyons College in Batesville, Arkansas, since he was a senior in high school.
“I talked to Lyons College twice before this summer,” Wallace said. “I spoke with them when I was a senior in high school and again shortly before I graduated at Three Rivers College. I’ve always felt like it would be a really good fit for me.”
Wallace, who has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining, reached an agreement to play baseball at the four-year private liberal arts college earlier this month.
“Me and one of my buddies went down to Batesville and I met some of the baseball players there earlier this year,” Wallace said. “I told them I’d love the opportunity to play there if they had any spots. Shortly after that I went on a campus visit, hit batting practice, and talked to the coach. I swung it pretty well that day and they liked me enough to offer me a scholarship.”
Wallace is hoping to enjoy an uninterrupted collegiate season in the 2021-22 after coping with unexpected health issues each of the last two seasons.
Two years ago when Wallace was a sophomore at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff he was diagnosed with a brain tumor about a month before his spring baseball season got underway. Following the diagnosis and visits to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Wallace got about 60 plate appearances for Three Rivers College before activities were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wallace played baseball at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, during the 2020-21 school year. But his season was once again interrupted when he had to have brain surgery on the same brain tumor he dealt with while playing at Three Rivers College.
“I had a really good fall last fall at Delta State,” Wallace said. “But then I had surgery in December. It was a pretty long process and I was down for a couple a months.
“I started walking on the treadmill again about 2 1/2 months after the surgery,” Wallace continued. “But I didn’t get to start practicing until around March this past spring. Then coming into the spring I was more timid with everything because I didn’t want to get hit in the head. It just took some time to adjust at the plate again.”
Medical professionals say Wallace should not have to have additional surgeries in coming months.
“It was a benign, slow-growing tumor,” Wallace said. “Doctors said it is possible in about 20 years I may have to have another surgery because they believe it has existed my whole life. But with the way things are improving with health care the procedure may be more simple by then and may not require an open head surgery next time around.”
Wallace played parts of two season under Stacey Burkey at Three Rivers, hitting .243 with 19 RBIs and 39 runs scored in 152 at-bats. He drew 49 walks, stole nine bases, and had a .437 on base percentage in 60 games.
Wallace also played in the the Prospect League for the Cape Catfish in the summer of 2019. He was slated to play for squad again in the summer of 2020 but their season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wallace is spending the summer preparing for the upcoming collegiate season in his hometown of Kennett.
“Right now I’m trying to build muscle more than anything,” he said. “I get up about 6:45 a.m. and lift at 7 a.m. Then I have a protein shake. I’m also working for dad right now during the day so if he needs me to do something I do that during that day. Then I usually hit about three nights a week.”
Wallace said his ultimate goal is to enjoy an uninterrupted, injury-free season before he stops playing the game.
“I’m just working my tail off right,” he said. “I’m trying to prove it to myself right now I can come back from something like brain surgery and continue playing. I didn’t want to end my career on having brain surgery in the middle of the year and not having the opportunity to play a full season.”