The arrival of the Toronto Blue Jays pre-season has always seemed to heighten the excitement for baseball in the nickel city at this time of year.

Only now, with the continued growth of the sport in Sudbury, the enthusiasm and anticipation is at a whole other level entirely - along with the off-season/early season news involving local practitioners of the summer diamond pastime.

Recently, it was time to announce the State-side commitment of another member of the Sudbury Voyageurs entourage as North Bay native Liam Norman confirmed his intentions to attend Dordt University in Iowa, joining the Defenders NAIA baseball roster this coming fall.

For the introspective young pitcher, there was much appeal to a setting that screams of anything but big city hustle and bustle. “It’s calming, it’s flat, there’s cornfields everywhere - and everyone is so nice,” noted Norman of the atmosphere surrounding the Sioux Centre (population 8,229) institution.

For a young man who battled the tendency to ramp up his intensity to levels that were clearly counter-productive, this tiny slice of Americana spoke to him, loud and clear.

“My attitude,” blurted Norman when asked of his area of greatest growth. “I used to get so fired up when I was young, but that’s not happening now. I don’t get as concerned about an individual performance. I just try and gain as much knowledge as I can and try and progress.”

Though he acknowledged the need to expand his baseball horizons in his early teens, the 18 year-old one time pitcher/third baseman also spoke to the fundamental building blocks that were established back in his hometown.

“I got my start with competitive ball there, just having an actual team, for starters,” said Norman.

And for as much as he makes no bones about the progression in his game since his arrival with the Voyageurs and The Baseball Academy some four to five years ago, he also admits that natural physical maturity also attributed to him becoming a legitimate post-secondary prospect.

“I got bigger and my “velo” (velocity) went up, the command went up and my approach is much better,” Norman continued. “And the mental part improved so much. You have to learn to get over the bad performances. They are going to happen. You can’t always be perfect.”