Todd Rose | Daily Press Escanaba’s Hunter Lancour (center) poses after signing his letter-of-intent to play baseball at Delta College Wednesday in the Escanaba High School library. Also pictured are his parents Terri (left) and Mick (right).

ESCANABA — Next year, Hunter Lancour will be swapping his black and orange for green and black as he will officially play baseball for the Delta College Pioneers after signing his letter of intent Wednesday afternoon in the Escanaba High School Library.

The chance to attend and play for Delta will fulfill two dreams for Lancour. One, to continue his baseball career and, two, pursue a career in law enforcement.

“I am extremely excited,” Lancour commented. “I’ve been praying that I could play baseball after high school since I was in like third grade. Getting this opportunity is huge.

“I’ll be majoring in criminal justice. I’ve wanted to be a cop since I could walk. They have a really good program.”

While he did have offers from a few colleges on the table — particularly one from Bay Colege that would have kept him close to home — Lancour is happy for a chance to see what the world has to offer outside the Upper Peninsula.

“Bay Colege really wanted me,” he said. “But I figured it would be better for me to go explore my life and see how it goes.”

With the days to graduation — and the first at Delta — Lancour feels he is pretty ready for the shift in the classroom atmosphere, while he will continue to work on his body and baseball skills to ready for the next level on the field.

“I’ve just been in the gym every day trying to get bigger, stronger and hopefully, become a better, smarter, player.

“(The change in competition) is going to be huge. … Everyone that’s in college deserves to be in college. So, it will definitely be a big step, but I’m excited for it.”

Lancour will be playing a dual part on the field for the Pioneers as they’ve tapped him to pitch and play infield like he has in the past with Escanaba.

With his final season as a member of the Eskymos ahead of him this spring, Lancour hopes the Mos can make it one step further than last year.

“I am super excited for this baseball season,” he said. “Last year, we lost in the regional final, which I believe we should not have lost that game. I believe we were the better team.

“So, I’m hoping we can make a deeper run than we did last year and, hopefully, get to the state championship.”

Eskymos coach Scott Hanson noted Lancour’s ability to step up and deliver when the moment calls for it and his competitive spirit as two big things that make him the player he is.

“Hunter was forced to step up when Jared (Hanson) got hurt (last year) and, man, he stepped right into that role,” Hanson said. “Hunter competes like nobody. He is amazing. Any time he pitches, he is a bulldog.”

Hanson pointed to the district title game against Cheboygan — who he praised as a “darn good baseball team” — earlier this year as a prime example of Lancour’s ability to perform under pressure.

“Jared started the game and couldn’t go. I don’t think he made it through the first inning,” he said. “And I looked and Hunter like ‘Here you go buddy!’

“To get us through what he could do in that game just battling a really good team (was great).”

Hanson added his excitement for Lancour — who signed alongside fellow Eskymos Jared Hanson and softball player Carsyn Segorksi — to take the next step in his baseball and education career.

“I’m really looking forward to following both (Hunter and Jared) careers and Carsyn, too,” he said. “To follow kids who are doing well … is a lot of fun for me as a coach, and it says a lot of where our program is right now.”