Sweet Water standout Smith to sign with UAB

Jonah Smith

SWEET WATER – The Bulldog ace has picked a new home. Sweet Water High School senior Jonah Smith has parlayed his dominant junior campaign into a Division I scholarship after committing to sign with the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

“It’s just a great academic school and I really like their head coach, Coach (Brian) Shoop. He’s a Christian and I like that about him,” Smith said of the opportunity to take the mound for the Blazers when his high school career is complete.

Jonah Smith receives the Class 1A MVP trophy from Luke Hallmark.

Smith earned 2017 Class 1A Pitcher and Player of the Year honors from the Alabama Sports Writers Association as well as Super 10 recognition after helping to lead the Bulldogs to the state championship.

“He’s a player of great character. He’s going to hustle. He’s a bulldog. He’s a team player. He’s not selfish and he’s going to work as hard as he can. UAB is getting a good one,” Sweet Water head coach John Gluschick said of the player UAB is getting. “The sky is the limit. UAB has a great coaching staff. There are a couple of things I know Jonah needs to work on and we’re going to touch that here. Probably his slide step, quicker to the plate, mixing up his moves. Coach Shoop, Coach (Perry) Roth, awesome, awesome coaches and Jonah is in great hands. The sky is the limit for him. He’s going to be a good one.”

Smith, who got the extra-inning walk-off hit that won the Bulldogs the state championship, made his reputation on the mound as one of the most dominant pitchers in the state at any level last season. He went 14-2 on the mound with three saves while posting a 1.11 ERA with 123 strikeouts over 88 innings of work. Smith allowed only 49 hits and 14 earned runs all season to boost a microscopic 0.78 WHIP.

“I don’t think it has set in yet because I’m still in high school and I’ve got to finish my senior year, but I’m expecting that to happen very soon,” Smith, who also garnered attention from programs at Auburn and East Central Community College, said of his new circumstances. “It’s a big relief because now I can worry about my senior year and just make the grades I have to make, then go to UAB.”

As Smith and his squad set their sights on repeating as Class 1A state champs, the hurler has a list of personal gains he would like to make in order to improve his game before facing collegiate competition.

“Just throw more strikes, try to stay in the strike zone more than I did last year, and try to cut off the walks,” he said.

“It’s huge because, now that Jonah has signed and we had some other guys sign with junior colleges,” Gluschick said of the impact such a signing has on a prep program. “These guys want to do the same thing. They love baseball. They love the game. And any way you can further your education through baseball, that always helps. That’s a goal for some of these kids now. They see that it’s attainable.”

Smith will likely autograph his National Letter of Intent during the early signing period in November.