SPRINGFIELD — Effingham County’s Austin Mealor recently signed a national letter of intent to attend Brewton-Parker College.

The senior outfielder was beginning to think he was going to retire his cleats for good but his former teammate, Zach Wilson, put in a good with the Barons’ coaching staff and the rest is history.

Mealor said he’s thankful Wilson looked out for him.

“It surprised me,” Mealor said. “It was a last-minute thing. I was starting to lose confidence. But then one of my former teammates, Zach Wilson, went to his coach and he contacted me a week later.

“I’m relieved. I feel great.”

Once the Brewton-Parker’s coaches got ahold of Mealor’s highlight reel, they encouraged him to check out their program.

“Coach (Ryan) Harris texted me and said that he looked at me on YouTube because I have videos of me playing on there. He told me he liked what he saw,” Mealor said. “He asked me how I felt about playing there and told me to talk to my parents. I did and they liked it and it went from there.”

And, of course, Mealor said he’s going to enjoy having another two seasons to play alongside Wilson, who plays a variety of positions.

“I think it will be pretty cool,” Mealor said. “I think it will be another fun two years.”

Effingham County head coach Chris Johnson defined Mealor as an athlete with a positive mindset and a strong work ethic. He is grateful to see another Rebel take their talent to the next level.

“I am very excited for him,” Johnson said. “He’s a tremendous young man first and foremost — great character and a strong Christian young man. He’s as hard a worker as we have. He works relentlessly everyday and comes with a great attitude, shows great leadership and does anything we ask of him.

“He’s a tremendous young man and we are very excited because he really wanted the opportunity to go play somewhere and this worked out for him.”