Jaylen 
Jones 
and 
Tyler 

Fullman are two supremely 
talented 
student 
athletes 

from 
Georgia 
and 
Chicago, 

respectively. They both have 
athletic accolades under their 
belts, and they both have their 
sights set on professional ball.

Jones and Fullman are two 

Black pitchers who will join 
Michigan’s baseball team next 
year. They will find themselves 
under the tutelage of coach Erik 
Bakich, who has gained national 
attention in recent years for 
his insistence on having a 
racially diverse roster in a sport 
that is known — especially 
at the college level — to be 
overwhelmingly white.

They’ll be joining a team that 

has had recent success. The last 
uninterrupted college baseball 
season 
saw 
the 
Wolverines 

come a mere game away from 
a national championship, a feat 
the Michigan baseball program 
hadn’t achieved in over half a 
century.

Jones, 
a 
left-hander 
who 

boasts a fastball that reaches 
the mid-90s, is no stranger to 
the mentality Bakich has been 
trying to avoid — that Black 
college baseball players come 
across as abnormal, requiring 
further scrutiny in the scouting 
process.

“A white player, they can go 

out there one time, dominate, 
and then they’ll get the offer, 
but (college coaches) want to see 
me multiple times because they 
want to make sure, ‘If I’m gonna 
spend money for a Black player 
to come here, he’s gotta perform 
more than once,’ ” Jones said. 
“I’ve had some SEC schools that 
haven’t really been known for 
recruiting Black players. And 
(Bakich) didn’t care about that. 
I performed, he liked it, he gave 
me a scholarship and I took it.”

Jones also echoed a point that 

Bakich made two years ago in 
a Washington Post interview: 
Baseball can be an expensive 
game for youth baseball players 
in America, as showcases and 
travel 
costs 
mount 
quickly 

for 
high-level 
players. 
This 

can prove to be a frustrating 
obstacle, 
particularly 
for 

minority players with inner-
city roots that struggle to get 
exposure.

“Sometimes 
Black 
players 

can’t afford to go play baseball 
… and Bakich stresses that he 
wants to give everybody the 
same opportunity,” Jones said. 
“It don’t matter your race or 
whatever, it’s not political for 
him, it’s just, ‘We want to get the 
best type of players.’ ”

Fullman, 
a 
righty 
with 

velocity 
just 
as 
impressive 

as Jones’s, has been playing 
baseball since he was four. In 
recent years, that time has been 
spent playing with White Sox 
ACE, a program designed to help 
inner-city baseball players in 
Chicago avoid just this problem, 
giving many players a chance to 

face high-level competition and 
gain exposure that otherwise 
would be difficult or impossible 
to obtain. 

True to form, Bakich has 

developed inroads with the ACE 
program, as Fullman will join 
redshirt 
sophomore 
catcher 

Jordon Rogers as the second 
player from the program on the 
team next fall. Dillon Head, a 
2023 outfielder from ACE, is 
committed as well.

As a teammate, color makes 

no difference to Fullman. He’s 
focused. 

“I treat everybody like family, 

man,” Fullman said. “I care 
about the team, (and) I care 
about winning. I want to be a 
leader.”

But as an individual, the 

hard-throwing 
righty 
knows 

the weight that comes with 
representing 
a 
woefully 

underrepresented group in the 
sport he’s been passionate about 
for nearly his whole life.

“As an African American, 

sometimes I think, like, ‘Man, 
like I’m not even supposed to be 
here. I’m not even supposed to 

be playing this sport right now, 
’cause it really isn’t meant for 
me and this game don’t really 
love nobody.’ I’ve had those 
thoughts,” Fullman said. “But 
you know, I just kept going and 
I still worked on my game and it 
really got me where I’m at right 
now.”

Work 
he 
did, 
and 
now, 

beginning his senior year of 
high school, Fullman has his 
sights set on Michigan and 
beyond. A future in the MLB is 
the ultimate goal, and Fullman’s 
work ethic and determination 
make him more than capable of 
realizing it, but his mentality 
outside the game makes him 
prepared for success no matter 
where 
his 
baseball 
career 

eventually takes him.

“I want to major in sports 

management,” 
Fullman 
said. 

“I want to own my own sports 
complex 
and 
become 
an 

entrepreneur one day, and I 
want to be a good student (at 
Michigan), man.”

As they prepare to take the 

mound at Ray Fisher Stadium, 
Fullman 
and 
Jones 
are 

following in the footsteps of 
several successful Black players 
who 
have 
already 
created 

their legacies — or are creating 
them still — in the Michigan 
baseball 
program. 
Jones 

shares Fullman’s major league 
aspirations, 
and 
he’s 
found 

sources of advice and wisdom 
in junior pitcher Isaiah Page 
— himself an outspoken voice 
against racial injustice during 
the past year — and Jordan 
Nwogu, a decorated Michigan 
outfielder who just signed with 
the Chicago Cubs as a third-
round draft pick. The two 
players showed Jones around 
during his visit to Michigan in 
the fall of 2019, and Nwogu’s 
successful ascent to the next 
level has been a powerful source 
of inspiration.

“I look up to Nwogu because 

he’s a heck of a ballplayer, and 
now he’s gotten drafted,” Jones 
said. “You try to follow in those 
footsteps because it’s another 
Black 
player 
that 
has 
the 

opportunity to play professional 
ball, and that’s my dream as 
well. I contact him about little 

stuff and ask him things… (and) 
I know I can ask him ’cause he’s 
been through everything at 
Michigan, and he’s had a ton of 
success.”

Above 
all 
else, 
the 
two 

budding stars in Michigan’s 
future rotation eagerly await 
their collegiate futures, because 
to them, Michigan isn’t simply 
a place to play baseball. It’s a 
town, a university and a team 
that’s eagerly awaiting them, 
too.

“I went up for an official visit, 

and right then and there I knew. 
I knew it was the place for me. 
Everything I could’ve wanted 
in a school — they had it,” Jones 
said. “I felt comfortable there.”

Fullman expressed a similar 

sentiment, 
adding 
that 
the 

proximity of Michigan to his 
hometown makes it all the 
more special that he was given 
an opportunity to play in Ann 
Arbor.

“It’s 
the 
greatest 
school 

around, really, to me,” Fullman 
said. 
“That’s 
how 
I 
feel. 

Michigan’s a great, awesome 
school. It’s a school that makes 
me feel like I’m home.”

In 
Jones 
and 
Fullman, 

Bakich’s 
squad 
is 
getting 

two 
players 
who 
possess 

the qualities any successful 
program looks for. They are 
skilled, determined and selfless, 
and while they both have had 
unique experiences as Black 
players in a sport that often fails 
when it comes to diversity, their 
focus lies squarely on the task 
ahead. 

Fans 
will 
cheer, 
batters 

will be sent trudging back to 
the dugout, and Jones and 
Fullman will be on the mound, 
representing the university that 
they hope will propel them to 
much greater heights in the 
coming years.

“It’s 
really 
a 
blessing,” 

Fullman said. “It’s always been 
a dream for me to get accepted 
to this school.”

18 — Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Cameron Amine ready to follow in 

family’s footsteps at Michigan

Cameron 
Amine 
is 

Michigan wrestling royalty. 

His 
father, 
uncle, 
two 

cousins and brother all went 
through the program, and 
their family produces top-
tier collegiate athletes — 
 

All Americans and NCAA 
finalists among them. As the 
newest Amine to join the 
team, Cameron expects a 
dominant year coming off his 
redshirt season. 

Entering 
his 
freshman 

year a season ago, it was 
understood Amine was going 
to redshirt. While he wanted 
to jump right into the line of 
fire, he recognized he needed 
to get stronger and smarter 
before competing. 

“I thought I was ready for 

the college level,”Amine said. 
“But once I first came in it 
was like ‘I got to adapt to the 
style.’ ” 

During his first year as 

a Wolverine waiting for an 
opportunity, 
Amine 
never 

stopped 
training. 
Every 

practice he brought a great 
intensity with the hope of 

more action next year. In 
the 
four 
tournaments 
he 

was allowed while retaining 
his redshirt, he went an 
impressive 15-5. 

“(Cameron) 
is 
a 
silent 

worker, really consistent and 
brings an incredible effort and 
intensity to all his workouts 
and training,” Michigan coach 
Sean Bormet said. “It (was) 
apparent during his freshman 
year.” 

Now as a redshirt freshman, 

Amine is ready to take on a 
more vocal and active role 
within the team. He’s been 
extremely competitive since 
he was a young kid with his 
brother and cousins, and now 
he’s ready to show it against 
tougher opponents. He wants 
to display to his teammates — 
and the rest of the conference 
 

— all of the work he put in 
during the offseason.

“I’m the young buck on 

this team, but I’m here and 
I’m going to challenge (my 
teammates),” Amine said. 

In addition to his work 

his freshman year, Amine 
spent all of the quarantine 
and summer working out. 
Between wrestling on the 
mats in his basement and 

working out in his relative’s 
garage gym, he feels his game 
has improved dramatically 
since last season. 

“(I think) I’m a little under 

the radar so I want to come 
out swinging,” Amine said. 

He always was at the top of 

the wrestling ladder in high 
school — winning three state 
championships 
for 
Detroit 

Catholic Central High School 
 

— and believes he’ll get back 
there. 

Additionally, 
Amine 

constantly 
puts 
immense 

expectations 
on 
himself. 

He wants to dominate. And 
he wants to win an NCAA 
Championship. 

“One of the great things 

about him is he loves to 
compete,” Bormet said. “He 
loves competing against the 
toughest guys in the country 
and with great composure.” 

Bormet 
shares 
Amine’s 

sentiments, thinking he and 
the team can achieve great 
accomplishments this season. 

Amine, like everyone else, 

is at the mercy of COVID-19, 
so his season is in limbo. If 
and when it starts, he plans 
on 
achieving 
one 
thing: 

dominance.

JACOB KERNIS

For The Daily

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily

Joining his father, uncle, cousins and brother, Cameron Amine will start for the Michigan wrestling team this year.

For Michigan baseball’s top recruits,

difference makes no difference

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich strives to recruit student-athletes from diverse backgrounds and from areas that are often overlooked in college baseball.

ETHAN PATRICK

For The Daily

How international field hockey 
players dealt with the pandemic

When 
the 
COVID-19 

pandemic hit in March, all 
Michigan students were advised 
to leave campus. 

For international students — 

including sophomore midfielder 
Nina Apoola of the Michigan 
field hockey team — being sent 
home entailed more than a few 
hours in the car. 

“I had to pack everything in 

my dorm room and book a flight 
back to England within two 
days,” Apoola said.

With the virus spreading, 

the world reacting and borders 
closing, 
Apoola 
and 
junior 

goalkeeper Anna Spieker had 
to act fast to return to their 
home countries of England and 
Germany, respectively. Spieker 
enjoyed the opportunity to bond 
with family in Germany — but 
after a while at home, the stir-
craziness sets in for everyone.

“It was probably the longest 

I’ve ever gone without field 
hockey,” Apoola said.

Although they were luckily 

able to get home — with borders 
fully closing mere days after 
arrival — and happy to slow 

down and spend time with loved 
ones, little by little things started 
to open up. After the University 
announced its fall reopening 
plans, and with a possible season 
looming, 
both 
Spieker 
and 

Apoola knew it was time to get 
back.

But returning to the United 

States 
wasn’t 
without 
its 

complications.

For Spieker, a dual-citizen, 

it was more about attention 
to detail. After double- and 
triple-checking 
the 
German 

Embassy’s web page, she was 
able to return to Ann Arbor in 
a relatively smooth — but still 
stressful — fashion. Apoola, on 
the other hand, does not have a 
U.S. passport, and with England 
still deep in lockdown, she had a 
few more hoops to jump through.

With the requirement of a two-

week quarantine, Apoola and her 
German teammate — sophomore 
midfielder and forward Sarah 
Pyrtek — hatched a plan to get 
back to the U.S. Because travelers 
from England were barred from 
entering the U.S., they travelled 
to Aruba and fulfilled their two-
week quarantine there. 

About 
halfway 
into 
the 

Aruban quarantine, the rules 
changed, and it turned out 

Pyrtek and Apoola did not have 
to go to Aruba at all. However, 
they were glad to have played it 
safe as they had a deep desire to 
return to the team, and nothing 
was going to stop them.

After arriving in early July, 

the situation continued to evolve. 
With no Big Ten foes to take on 
this fall, the team is taking part 
in highly competitive practices 
as they look to improve in 
preparation for the upcoming 
season, whenever it may be. 

“It’s a difficult task,” Spieker 

said. “We’re taking it day by day.” 

Added Apoola: “We have to 

make every one of these days 
count.” 

After 
traversing 
halfway 

around the globe and back 
during this pandemic, and seeing 
so much along the way, Spieker 
and Apoola are finding even 
more enjoyment in being with 
their teammates on campus, 
and they’re taking nothing for 
granted. They’ve had to clear 
added hurdles to arrive from 
abroad, yet they continue to 
bring a clear-eyed approach to 
it all. 

“There’s so many people in far 

worse situations,” Apoola said. 
“We’re grateful to even be able 
to play.”

PAUL NASR
For The Daily

COURTESY OF MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Nina Apoola and Anna Spieker had to rapidly return home after in-person classes were cancelled in March. 

