COVINGTON, Ga. — Newton High School senior Blake Peacock signed his National Letter of Intent to play college baseball at Bryan College on Thursday afternoon.

“Bryan was one of those places where I showed up and just felt like I belonged,” Peacock said. “The decision after that was really easy.”

Peacock, who primarily pitched in relief for the Rams this spring, was recruited as a both a pitcher and infielder. He’s set to report to Bryan College on Aug. 12, with conditioning currently scheduled to begin the following week.

Peacock’s first exposure to college baseball came when he was 10 years old. Since then, he’s dreamed of extending his talents to the next level when his prep career drew to a close.

After seeing his final season in a Rams uniform cut short due to the COVID-19 crisis, he’s more eager than ever to get back on out on the diamond.

“Especially with all that’s been going on, it is good to finally get here. It was almost more of a hassle — all the online stuff, having everything crammed in you all at one time — but it’s great to be here finally,” Peacock said. “My entire school career led up to this. I’ve been working to get to the collegiate level for a while now. I’m very excited.”

Peacock and the Rams had their 2020 campaign cut short just as they appeared to be getting into a groove. After stumbling out to a 1-4 start, they reeled off five consecutive wins — outscoring opponents 83-23 over that stretch — before seeing the season come to an abrupt halt.

Newton head coach Darrell Helm offered high praise for his former player on his signing day.

“Blake’ one of the hardest-working kids I’ve ever been around,” Helm said. “Even when all this coronavirus kind of happened, he was still texting me asking what he can be doing, what he can throwing. He’s just a great kid all-around and I expect to hear good things come out of him at Bryan College.”