Lake City soph Kolden commits to WSU

Kodie Kolden found the situation he liked, so figured why wait?

Kolden, who recently completed his sophomore season at Lake City High, verbally committed to accept a partial scholarship to play baseball at Washington State, effective fall 2018.

“I just felt Washington State was the right fit for my family, being so close,” said Kolden, 16. “It was just overall the right fit for me and my family.”

He attended a baseball camp at Washington State last fall, and coaches there told him to keep in touch. Last month, Cougar coaches watched him when he and his summer team, the Spokane Expos, played in a tournament at WSU.

The Cougs offered him a scholarship shortly after, and Kolden committed on July 5.

“I think it’ll definitely help release the stress as I get older, not having to worry about where I’m going to go to college,” Kolden said. “It’s also awesome to be able to say I’m going to go play baseball in college this early, with the help from the family and friends and coaches around me.”

WSU is recruiting Kolden as a middle infielder. He plays shortstop for the Expos. He started at shortstop and also pitched for Lake City. The T-Wolves handed him the ball for the state 5A championship game, and the soph responded with a complete-game victory as Lake City won its first state title since 2007.

“I just felt confident with how our defense played that whole tournament, and I definitely had a lot of confidence pitching, too,” Kolden said.

The right-handed hitting Kolden hit leadoff for Lake City, and bats in either the 2, 4 or 5 hole for the Expos.

Last month, Kolden competed in an all-state showcase game in Caldwell.

Another plus for WSU, he said, was he wants to go into physical therapy, and the school offers such a program.

Verbal commitments are nonbinding; Kolden can sign a binding letter of intent his senior year.

WSU is his only scholarship offer to date; he’s also attracted interest from Gonzaga, Seattle U and the University of San Diego.