Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Reconciled To Baseball
CONFLICT RESOLUTION OPENS DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY
PRAIRIE GROVE — For an instant, Austin Jentzsch’s fate dangled precariously between the man who never was and the man he wanted to become.
As a junior, Jentzsch pushed the wrong buttons as the Tiger bus started on a baseball road trip and quickly found himself on the losing side of a confrontation with then-first-year Prairie Grove head baseball coach Chris Mileham during the 2016 season.
Assistant coach Mason Pinkley was driving, when he was given an order in a small town not noted for having streets wide enough to turn a bus around on a dime.
“I actually had Pinkley flip a U-turn in the middle of Prairie Grove,” Mileham said. “We dropped him (Jentzsch) off and ended up parting ways.”
Jentzsch went home and contemplated his future, asking himself serious questions. Did he really want to quit a sport he loves because of one bad argument?
According to Mileham, “both sides cooled off,” and the Tiger skipper found himself leaning on the advice a veteran coach shared with him earlier in his career.
“I’m big on good people make bad decisions all the time,” Mileham said.
Functioning from this perspective, Mileham resisted the temptation to write off a teenage personality due to rogue behavior, and was able to re-evaluate the situation with a larger picture in mind.
“The following day I went back up to the field and we talked it out,” Jentzsch said. “After that day it was like nothing ever happened.”
Jentzsch responded favorably to a second chance, and, he, too; surrendered any pretentious right to hold a grudge.
“We got started off on the wrong foot,” Mileham said. “Austin decided he was going to go ahead and commit and take things seriously.”
The two worked out their differences with each laying aside their ego to mend the player-coach relationship, and Mileham made no bones about his being delighted with the end result.
“It makes me tremendously happy to see him turn it around,” Mileham said. “He has a bright future in front of him.”
The biggest consequence directly attributed to Jentzsch’s attitude adjustment is the doors of opportunity that were opened unto him.
“If you really love the sport, then you’ve got to put everything aside. That’s what I did,” Jentzsch said. “The following season I showed them what I actually could do.”
As a senior outfielder, Jentzsch became a full-time starter. He was named All-Conference, playing in 22 games with a .308 batting average. Jentzsch was productive, belting out 20 hits with 20 runs scored, 17 RBIs, 8 doubles, 1 triple and 2 home-runs.
Jentzsch’s reward is an opportunity
only a small percentage of high school players realize. On April 17, Jentzsch signed a national letter of intent to play baseball with Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., seated between two sets of parents: with his father, Shane Jentzsch and stepmother Karyn Jentzsch, on his right; and mother Gena Knight and stepfather Kevin Knight, on his left.
As the group posed for photographs, Mileham stepped up and quietly laid a hand on Jentzsch’s shoulder.
The gesture was a picture of a father figure, quietly demonstrating his affirmation, something every player longs for; but not all will experience.
After vocalizing his endorsement of Jentzsch’s baseball capabilities, Mileham stopped talking while the photographs were taken, but the Tiger coach’s heart was speaking loud and clear; as if saying, “This is my beloved baseball son, in whom I am well-pleased.”