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David Karvelas is heading to Truett McConnell to continue his academic and baseball career at the next level. After much deliberation, Karvelas landed on the Bears after an exhaustive search on where to continue his athletic journey.

“I’ve been thinking about playing for a couple of years, but I really set my heart on playing in college before my senior season started,” he said. “I had a few options, but I was up at Truett McConnell last year and went to a soccer game with my brother and met the baseball coach, and it started to feel like a place I could call home.”

It will be a family reunion for Karvelas. The Lafayette Christian senior will be joining his older brother Jacob on the team. Jacob, a senior, and Karvelas have not been on the same team since the latter’s freshman year at Callaway High School.

“To go to a place and be able to play with my older brother in his last season is just perfect,” Karvelas said. “It’s just such a perfect setup for me to go into.”

After an up-and-down year at Callaway, Karvelas transferred back to Lafayette Christian, the school he has called home practically his whole life.

It was a wise decision to transfer back as he found himself over the last couple of years at Lafayette Christian.

One pleasant surprise for Karvelas is just how much he enjoyed playing football under the Friday night lights with the Cougars. A lifelong baseball fan, Karvelas didn’t find himself on the gridiron until his junior year when the Cougars needed a starting quarterback.

“I really wasn’t wanting to come out and play, but Coach (Jarred) Pike kept telling me that they needed a quarterback,” Karvelas said. “So, I went out to summer practices, and those are not fun at all. It’s just a bunch of conditioning in the summer sun. It wasn’t the best start, but once I got to play in games, I loved it.”

It was a meteoric rise with Karvelas earning All-State honors as a senior. After such a successful season, Karvelas was having a hard time saying goodbye to the sport.

“We had such a great football season and I loved playing with those guys so much,” Karvelas said. “I was really thinking about playing football at the next level once that season ended, but then I got into the baseball season and it reminded me why I loved the sport so much.”

The baseball diamond is home for Karvelas. Where he lines up on said diamond is another story altogether. With Lafayette Christian fielding a small roster, Karvelas has seen his position and role on the team change.

“I probably feel most natural at shortstop, which also happens to be where Jacob plays, too,” he said with a chuckle. “I can play pretty much anywhere in the infield, though.”

The biggest change in his role has been the leadership he has provided both the baseball and football teams during his senior season. Never an overly vocal guy, Karvelas leads by example.

“My personality is not to be a hoorah kind of guy,” Karvelas said. “So I just wanted to be the kind of leader that all the younger guys on the team could look up to and follow.”