Baseball always felt like the right path for Braydn O’Neal.

The North Callaway senior signed to play baseball for NAIA school Columbia College on Tuesday morning in the high school library in Kingdom City. O’Neal was joined by family, teammates, friends and the Columbia College coaches, including head coach and Mexico native Darren Munns,

O’Neal has played multiple sports — baseball, football and basketball — for several years at North Callaway, but baseball felt like the one to pursue for a long time. He said his late grandfather played college baseball, so he will now follow in his footsteps.

“The big point in my life was my grandpa died of cancer and always told me to go play college baseball,” O’Neal said. “That was my sport. As soon as Columbia College reached out to me and I got there, I just felt him on the campus and I felt like this is meant to be.”

O’Neal said his grandfather encouraged him ever since he was a little kid, and it has stuck with him through his life.

North Callaway head coach Zeth Lavy said he knew O’Neal ever since he was really young, which was when Lavy was playing at North Callaway High School for O’Neal’s father, and current athletic director and football head coach Kevin O’Neal.

“Columbia College is getting a heck of a competitor and a really good ballplayer,” Lavy said. “I’ve known Braydn since he was knee-high when I was in high school. It’s been pretty cool to see him grow up into a young man and a heck of a ballplayer. I’m excited to have him for another spring.”

Lavy said O’Neal lost a season of baseball in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he knew O’Neal had much talent even then.

“His freshman year was the COVID year he didn’t get to play, but he would have been our starting shortstop at that point,” Lavy said. “I coached him in junior high football. Just watching him grow up, he’s a great athlete and I think it was pretty evident early on, if he wanted to advance past high school, he would be able to do that.”

O’Neal has used his great athleticism to not only participate in multiple sports but fill key roles in those sports. He has been an all-conference and all-district football player multiple times, where he plays quarterback on offense and defensive back on defense. This past season, one of those honors included being a unanimous Eastern Missouri Conference selection at defensive back while accumulating 2,728 total yards and 35 touchdowns as the quarterback. In basketball this season as the point guard, O’Neal leads the team in assists with 4.6 per game.

In the previous baseball season, through 89 plate appearances in 23 games, O’Neal led the team in batting average (.403), on base percentage (.545), OPS (1.023), hits (27), runs (30) and stolen bases (28 out of 29 attempts). He has earned all-conference and all-district honors multiple times, including a first-team utility selection last year.

Beside playing shortstop, O’Neal has also pitched for the Thunderbirds, working to a 3.05 ERA in 20⅔ innings. Still, he said Columbia College has run the idea by him of playing in the outfield, which is more than alright with O’Neal.

“During summer, I played outfield,” O’Neal said. “I talked to them and they liked my speed in the outfield. They said they’re going to try me at middle infield possibly but (it will) probably outfield. I love outfield. Outfield’s my spot.”

As for other college options, O’Neal said a couple of junior colleges reached out to him, and Westminster College even asked if he would be interested in playing football, but baseball at Columbia College sounded like the best option.

“I went on a visit there shortly after Thanksgiving, and it just felt like home. The coaches loved me, and the campus felt amazing,” O’Neal said. The first five minutes of being there, it just felt like I wanted to be there.”

O’Neal said he intends to study sports management with the hope of doing an internship with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The two-time American Midwest Conference coach of the year Munns built the Columbia College baseball program from the ground up when the school debuted the sport in 2017. Since then, the Cougars have won 30 games every year except for the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when they were 16-5.

Both O’Neal and Lavy said North Callaway has a solid core of players returning this season so they expect much from this season’s Thunderbirds. When the season inevitably ends, Lavy said Columbia College will be gaining a valuable player and young man.

“He’s a young man that has worked incredibly hard on the craft he’s chosen,” Lavy said. “He’s a very versatile guy. He can play the infield, outfield, I’ve seen him catch and he pitches for us. He’s going to show up on time, be there, do extra work, and you’re not going to have to worry about him in the classroom or away from the field. They’re getting a great kid from a great family.”