The Front Row with Jason Elliott August 10, 2013

Playing baseball is in the blood of Nick Nyquist.

His father played the sport in college, as well as his older brother. Now, just after completing his junior year at Coeur d'Alene, he's already made his intentions known.

He'll be a Bulldog.

NYQUIST VERBALLY committed to Gonzaga in July, and will join Coeur d'Alene High teammate Levi Pereira on the Bulldog roster in 2014.

"Levi was one of my good friends from high school," Nyquist said. "I'm excited and hope to get to play a few years with him."

Nyquist, 17, added the West Coast Conference was a big draw to him opting to go to Gonzaga.

"We'll get to go to California a lot," Nyquist said. "Which is awesome to me. It's a great baseball program, great school and great facility."

His father, Mike, played baseball at North Idaho College for two years before going to Washington and playing his senior year at Whitworth in Spokane.

Chad Nyquist, his older brother, played at the Community Colleges of Spokane the last two seasons.

NICK PARTICIPATED in the New Balance Code Baseball Games at Long Beach State University over the past week as a middle infielder for the Kansas City Royals, comprised of the best high school players in the Pacific Northwest.

"It was unbelievable," Nyquist said. "It was probably the best competition I've played against. I saw some kids that are expected to go in the first round (of next year's draft)."

The speed of the game was something he admitted to not being used to.

"It was crazy seeing someone throwing 90 to 95 miles an hour," Nyquist said. "It's not something I'd see a lot in North Idaho. I really had to learn to adjust to it."

Nyquist played second base, third base and shortstop for the Royals. Mitch Bevacqua, a Lake City graduate, played for the Royals last year and has signed with Washington.

"Most of the kids down here get drafted," Nyquist said. "There's about 350 to 400 scouts at each game. If you make a good play, they'll come down and talk to you.

Nyquist will also continue playing through the fall for the second straight year, joining the Fall League Idaho Cubs.

"It's a lot of fun," Nyquist said. "You get to play against different colleges from around the northwest. There's a lot of traveling from the north to Boise every weekend, but it's worth it."

Nyquist played on the team last year with Pereira and fellow Coeur d'Alene senior Sean Sutton, who also returns to the Cubs this fall.

He'll be eligible for next year's MLB First-Year Player Draft, something that he hopes will happen eventually.

"It would be awesome," Nyquist said. "I'm really hoping for that, but we'll have to see how it goes. I'm pretty set on going to college. The pro guys, they just try to convince you to go pro right out of high school because in your rookie season, they said you can get as many at-bats as you would in college."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].