CHESAPEAKE — When Drew Denney takes the mound, don’t be surprised if he can figure out a way to film and edit his own highlights.
The Chesapeake Panthers’ senior pitcher signed a letter-of-intent to play for the Kentucky Christian Knights on Tuesday, but he has also dabbled in the film industry.
Denney is an award-winning film maker and said that if the plan to play at KCU fell through, his fallback plan was to attend Marshall University and major in film. He recently earned his award in the Electronic Media Department of Ohio University Southern, known as the EmPixx Awards.
“I’ve done this since I was little. I’m a stop-motion animator. That’s something I’ve enjoyed since I was little. I just won an award for Chesapeake High School in the animation category at the EmPixxAwards at Ohio University Southern.” Said Denney.
Besides baseball, Denney has wrestled and played basketball. However, he admits his true love has always been baseball.
“I’ve played baseball since I was four,” said Denney who has 13 years of the sport under his belt.
“I just love the game. It’s mentally challenging. It’s 90 percent mental. It’s not for the weak-minded. People don’t think baseball is that hard, but trust me. You take another athlete and try to put them in baseball, it’s hard.”
Denney said he is strictly a pitcher and when he talks pitching, he knows what he wants to do.
“All I do is pitch. I’m going to Kentucky Christian for it. I like to be in control of the game. I like the challenge,” said the Panthers’ right-hander.
“My go-to pitch for off-speed is the sweep slider, I like to get good movement and make the batter chase it on the outside,” said Denney. “I like to work my two-seam fastball and get that break in. It really mixes up the hitters.”
There were some other options for Denney, but he said KCU was the easy choice.
“They have 17 seniors graduating so they said I have a very good chance as a freshman to play. I have a guaranteed spot on the roster,” said Denney. “Hopefully, I’m going to take my ability and help out Kentucky Christian.”
“Rio Grande invited me for a few showcases. The coach personally invited me to come to some games and talk to me. West Virginia Tech had me down for a visit. Kentucky Christian was just a bang-bang. It’s close to home and that’s the school I really wanted to go to.”
Denney said his college goal is simple.
“I just want to keep playing ball. Just keep playing ball,” said Denney.
Chesapeake head coach Tommy Burcham said Denney is a good fit for the Kentucky Christian program.
“He’s a good kid who works hard, shows up on time, and never has any issues. He’ll be an asset to the KCU program,” said Burcham.
“He’ll probably be a reliever, a middle reliever, for his first year or two until he gets more velocity on his ball, but he’ll be a major asset to them.”
Denney plans to major in business and finance.
“That best fits my needs considering my family has a mowing business,” he said referring to Denney’s Lawn Solutions.
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