It is every baseball player’s dream as a child to play in the major leagues. Some reach that goal; others don’t make it out of Little League. Traveling the long, hard road to a professional baseball career takes a strong mind and a lot of skill.
Yet Concord High School senior Ben Bengston is not fazed.
Bengston has been playing baseball since he was three years old, and since then, there has been no going back.
“Baseball has made a huge impact on my life. It has taught me many lessons along the way,” said Bengston. “Growing up, baseball was something I could always look forward to. It was my drive, my motivation.”
Going through many youth program, including the Concord Cannons, Bengston was able to further his talent to the best of his ability.
“Without AAU, I would have never been where I am today. It was a great experience,” he said.
Baseball isn’t all success. Failure is part of this game, as it is almost impossible to do well even 50% of the time. Some of the greatest hitters have hit .400 at most. That is something Bengston prides himself on.
“My biggest challenge is failing. I had to realize that I was going to fail more than succeed, and had to learn from my failures. You have to think about it,” said Bengston. “You’re considered a good hitter if you succeed three times out of ten.”
Playing for the Concord High varsity team this year, Bengston has had massive amounts of success. He has batted a whopping .540, with 2 home runs, 10 doubles, and 4 triples. Not only does he hit the ball, as he keen eye is shown with 22 walks.
“He’s a very talented kid who plays the game harder than anyone I’ve ever coached,” said Concord High assistant coach Matt Skoby. “He leads by example and it clearly rubs off on others.”
Coaches play a huge part in a player’s career, and Bengston definitely realizes that.
“Every coach that I have worked with has helped me in some way, shape, or form,” Bengston said. “Matt Tupman (former Kansas City Royals catcher, and Concord native) has really got me where I am today. I can’t thank him enough for all of the work he put in with me.”
At the end of his Junior year, Bengston began to receive looks from college coaches, inquiring about playing for their team. One of those coaches was University of Hartford coach Justin Blood, who saw Bengston play in the junior all-star game last summer.
“After the all-star game, July 1st hit and I got a call at 8:42 in the morning from my head coach asking me to come down and see the campus. They said that they loved what kind of player I was and were very interested in learning more.”
Bengston began to ponder offers and opportunities, and headed down to West Hartford, Connecticut, last July 11, where he found his new home.
“I loved everything about it,” said Bengston. “What did it for me was the coaching staff, but Coach Blood wanted to see what I was all about before any decisions were made.”
After a couple of summer league games, Ben received the offer of his life. Blood approached Bengston after a 10-inning game and offered him a scholarship to play baseball for the Hawks.
“It was one of the happiest moments of my life,” described Bengston. “My dreams were starting to turn into a reality.”
Skoby also described Bengston as a goal oriented, dedicated, intelligent person, and one heck of a baseball player. A true big leaguer should eat, sleep, and breath baseball, which is exactly what Bengston does.
“Baseball is life to me. It has helped me through so much,” Bengston said. “It’s more than just fielding, throwing, and hitting. It’s about the legends that played before me, the fresh cut grass, the freshly chalked lines. I hope one day I can make this my job.”
That just may be something that this Concord native does.