CULLMAN, Ala. – Family, friends, teammates and coaches packed Cullman High School’s Tillman Hall Wednesday afternoon to celebrate a pair of Bearcats taking their athletic careers to the next level. Seniors Peyton Colvard and Seth Gable signed letters of intent to Calhoun Community College and Birmingham-Southern College where they will continue their baseball and football careers, respectively.
Colvard has been one of the anchors on the mound for the Bearcats baseball team all season and has collected six wins and just one loss along with a save so far this season. In 49.1 innings pitched, Colvard has racked up 45 strikeouts, is holding his opponents’ batting average down to .198 and sports a 1.84 ERA. Offensively, Colvard is batting .288 with seven doubles, three home runs, 28 runs scored, 29 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.
Colvard has put together a great career at Cullman High School and while he’s excited to see what his collegiate career has in store, he knows he’ll miss all the friends and teammates he has here at home.
“Here at Cullman we have something special in our programs with the traditions, especially the baseball team and the football team, but my teammates are probably what I’m going to miss the most,” Colvard said. “Guys like Seth (Gable) and guys like Cooper (Beck) and all those guys.”
Colvard has always had hopes of playing baseball past his high school years and he’s worked to make those hopes a reality, but now he has a new set of challenges waiting for him in college life.
I’m just excited for the next level. You grow up watching people on TV knowing that you could be up there one day playing with that level of baseball players. I guess I’m afraid of what everybody’s afraid of, doing laundry,” Colvard joked. “That’s probably number one on the list.”
Cullman head baseball coach Brent Patterson has coached Colvard for several years now and what has stood out for him as a coach is the way Colvard plays the game instinctively.
“I’ve just been watching him mature over the last four or five years and one thing that has been a constant is that he’s a diligent worker. He wants to be good, he’s a student of the game and he’s not just a talented kid that doesn’t understand how to play. I think he really uses his knowledge and his instincts as his number one tool because he’s not overly fast, he’s not overly great offensively, he doesn’t throw 90 on the mound, but he understands how to play the game.”
Calhoun assistant baseball coach Ben Hawkins was in attendance for the signing and saw a lot of the same things in Colvard that Patterson did when recruiting him.
“He understands the game and he really understands in whatever position he’s playing what he’s supposed to do and what his role is,” Hawkins said. “When you can have a guy come into your program like Peyton, being a great kid, a great athlete and a great baseball player, it really helps our program for the future and we’re excited to have him and whatever position he wins, he’ll be successful at it.”
The other star of the afternoon was Gable, the anchor of the Bearcat football team’s defensive backfield. Gable is a two-year, two-sport letterman at Cullman High School and was voted defensive MVP of the football team in 2018 after leading the team in tackles from his safety position. During his junior season, Gable broke the school record after racking up 28 tackles in the Bearcats’ playoff game against Ramsay. He’s also pulled down six career interceptions and blocked four points and two extra points during his senior season.
Seth is going to miss the atmosphere that comes with high school sports, but he’s also focused on getting to work and earning a spot when he gets on campus in Birmingham.
“What I’ll miss the most is playing on Friday nights,” Gable said. “There’s just not another feeling like high school football. Seeing that go during my last game was sad, but I’m looking forward to working hard and trying to earn a spot. Everybody is competing at a high level in college so I’m just going to try to earn my spot.”
Former Bearcats head football coach Mark Britton saw Gable’s skills improve over several years but what he believes makes him so special as a defender is his ability to adjust to his competition.
“I think Seth is one of those guys that we could’ve played anywhere in the secondary,” Britton said. “He’s super smart, was able to adjust to game plans week to week and there were a lot of times we had him running the quarterback alley when we were playing an athletic quarterback that would run the ball a lot and then there were other weeks when he had to set the secondary and be that safety defending a passer. His ability to change from week to week and be effective at either role is what made him such a valuable player for us.”
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