<p>Having a chance to attend your first choice of colleges is exciting enough for any high school student. Getting some money to play baseball there? Even better.</p>
<p>Indian Creek junior Dustin Sprong had all of the pieces fall into place for him this week when he gave a verbal commitment to play at Xavier University.</p>
<p>"It was unbelievable. I don’t think I could explain it in words. I’ve never really had a dream come true, and it did right then, and it was such an unreal feeling."</p>
<p>Sprong said it took him just a couple of hours to accept after the Musketeers made him an offer.</p>
<p>Xavier, a member of the Big East Conference, had been in touch with Sprong since last summer. He had attended a camp there in the fall and taken two other visits to the campus.</p>
<p>"Every time I went there I seemed to like it more and more," Sprong said. "Everybody was really nice, the campus was beautiful and the facilities were great. Once they gave me that offer, I knew that it just felt like the right place."</p>
<p>After the Musketeer coaches came to watch him pitch in an April 17 win over Shelbyville — Sprong struck out 12 in just five innings, scattering four hits — they were just as sold on the player as he was on them.</p>
<p>Sprong becomes the second Braves pitcher to accept a Division I offer, joining classmate Trevor Ankney (Purdue).</p>
<p>"It definitely lets people know that Indian Creek baseball is the real deal," coach Steve Mirizzi said.</p>
<p>Sprong is 2-0 with a 1.88 earned-run average and 34 strikeouts on the mound, and he went into Thursday’s game against Brown County batting .370.</p>
