Luke Lorence is a freshman pitcher for the UCA baseball team, and he said he is eager to begin his collegiate journey. 

Lorence attended Little Rock Central High School and was a pitcher for the Tigers, and after a dominant high school senior season, he committed to UCA. 

“My goal my whole life has just been to play any level of baseball, but specifically Division 1 — that has been my goal since I was little so I have always worked towards it.” 

Lorence said that he did not want to attend school without being a student-athlete. 

“Why not get to go to school and get paid to play baseball and do something that I like?” Lorence said. 

Lorence also had more colleges than just UCA that were scouting him out of high school. 

“I had a couple other four-year schools that I was looking at, and then a good amount of junior college schools that were looking at me, and I feel like UCA was actually one of the later colleges that came up and talked to me, and the coaching staff really stuck out,” Lorence said. 

“I talked to a bunch of coaches in high school about it, and they were telling me how good of a program it is and how well they [UCA] develop pitchers, and so the development side was a big part in my decision, and obviously the coaching staff, I would say was the biggest part,” Lorence said. 

UCA has had multiple pitchers come through the program and make it to the Major Leagues, a notable one being Gavin Stone, who pitched for UCA from 2018-2020 and recently won a World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Lorence said that “his end goal” is making it to the MLB. 

“The amount of UCA pitchers, like Gavin Stone, who have recently been drafted and playing in the minor leagues, and some who are about to make the majors; so the history made me confident in UCA, and it would be great to follow in their footsteps and maybe end up playing professionally, “ Lorence said. 

Lorence noted that he likes watching the pitchers who may not be as big as an average MLB pitcher, but play with as much intensity. 

“I like watching Sonny Gray on the Cardinals, and Marcus Stroman on the Yankees, and really all the guys who aren’t super big and are able to use their pitch ability to get guys out,” Lorence said. 

“I would say my biggest inspiration is probably my dad because he always will go and workout with me or throw to me, and do whatever so I could reach my goal and is willing to do whatever it takes to help me get better in any way, “ Lorence said. 

Lorence said that his favorite baseball memory was when he won a state championship for his travel ball team when he was nine years old. 

“That was one of my best memories because I remember how much it meant to me at that time,” Lorence said.