Ben Van Cleve knows how to rake.
The 2017 Indianola Academy graduate just finished his freshman season with Northwest Mississippi Community College, where he put up some lofty numbers for the Rangers.
The 6-foot-3, 260 pound first baseman launched eight homeruns and drove in 28 runs, while batting .306 overall in his first collegiate campaign.
“I had a goal going in to hit 10 homeruns and bat about .330,” Van Cleve said this week, shortly after helping Northwest conduct a baseball camp for kids in Senatobia. “I got pretty close to where I wanted to be.”
Van Cleve, who batted over .500, with five homeruns and 15 doubles in his senior season with the Colonels, believes his numbers will be better in his sophomore year.
Part of the reason why he chose to go to Northwest was the Rangers’ hitting coach, Bill Selby.
The other reason was Northwest’s reputation as a baseball powerhouse.
“Northwest has always been notorious for being good, and they are always in the postseason,” Van Cleve said.
Van Cleve said that he had some struggles early on in the season, even going 1-for-20 at one point, but he said his work with Selby paid off.
“I changed my approach,” Van Cleve said. “I was pulling my head out on everything, but I started to take an opposite field approach.”
Van Cleve, who like many baseball players this year, battled a lot of cold and rainy weather early on in the season. He said it is not unusual for him to see the numbers go up with the outside temperature.
“When it gets hot, I start to heat up,” Van Cleve said.
While all baseball players experience cold stretches at the plate, Van Cleve never experienced that in the classroom at Northwest this year.
With a 3.85 (3.7 in the fall and 4.0 during the spring) overall GPA, Van Cleve made the President’s List at the college.
The Business major said that he hopes to become an Academic All-American at the junior college level.
As for next year’s season, Van Cleve said he hopes to slap 15 homeruns in 2019, and to finish the season hitting around .360.
A longtime fan of the Atlanta Braves and Chipper Jones, Van Cleve said the ultimate goal would be to one day hear his name called in the Major League Baseball draft.
Two of his good friends, Ryan Weathers (taken No. 7 overall in the first round by the San Diego Padres) and J.T. Ginn (taken No. 30 overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers) played on two separate travel ball teams with Van Cleve.
Weathers played with him on the Dulin Dodgers, and Ginn was teammates with Van Cleve on the East Coast Sox team.
Meanwhile, Van Cleve said that as a kid, he always wanted to play for Ole Miss, but he said that he would love the opportunity to play anywhere at the senior college level, especially in the Southeastern Conference.
Van Cleve is the son of Seldon and Michelle Van Cleve of Indianola.
