Liberty's Gentry is a baseball player on a mission

By David Saez
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Knowing he'll probably never play organized baseball after this high school season is a bit of a downer for Jordan Gentry.

But it's something that comes with deciding to undertake a religious mission.

"That's something hard for a young man to do," said Tranum McLemore, Gentry's baseball coach at Liberty County High. "But that's first for him."

Gentry said he has known he would become a Mormon missionary since about the time he was 8 or 9 years old. Now a senior center-fielder, Gentry may be 21 outs away from playing his final baseball game and months from departingfor the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints.

Over the years he's been saving money, attending church, and studying for a two-year mission that will send him somewhere in the country or overseas; he doesn't yet know where he will go. Once he turns 19 in November, he will be eligible to become a missionary for the Mormon church.

It's not something new for Gentry's family. Gentry has one brother who was a missionary in Mexico City and another brother who is currently in Rio de Janeiro.

"I think it will be a good experience," Gentry said. "My brothers have said they are the best two years of their lives and the hardest.

"I'm looking forward to having a new experience and getting on my own."

Today, Gentry and the Bulldogs (20-8 overall record) travel to North Florida Christian (20-7) for a Region 1-2A quarterfinal game.

This season Gentry has had the kind of numbers that might lead an athlete to pursue the chance to play in college. His batting average is .454 and he has 28 RBIs and 15 stolen bases — yet the possibility of college ball is not an option.

"Knowing I won't play baseball again makes me appreciate it a lot more," Gentry said. "It's hard knowing I won't play in college, but I've been planning this my whole life. If it was something that had just come up, I think it would be really hard, but it's not.