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Call him cocky or call him confident, Baker Knox, has definitely emerged as the leader of this year's Daytona State College baseball team. Knox batted .374 with 35 RBI's and six home runs this year and helped the Falcons to a 25-16 record, just missing the post-season.

A lot of the Falcons success is due to Knox's hard work day in and day out. "The thing that stands out to me the most over anyone else I have played with, is the fact that he doesn't over think anything," said sophomore Bobby Rauh. "He comes to the park to play every day and just gets out of himself. I think that's what makes him so consistent and successful."

The 20 year old sophomore, Baker Knox, was born in Palatka, Florida, where he played baseball all his life. "All the way up through high school, I've been playing ball," he said. "I have never even thought about doing anything else. I don't care what it takes; I want to make it to the majors."

Knox's defense has not been perfect this season, but his play at second base of late has been superb. "I have played every position on the field, so I know that am capable of playing well anywhere."

Even if Baker's coaches agree that he could play any position, that does not mean they won't have some fun with it. DSC pitching coach, Taylor Childress, talked about a prank the coaching staff pulled on him during a game against Monroe Community College last season.

"It was right in the middle conference week and we really didn't want to use a lot of pitchers. The only pitcher we were going to use was Phil Kish and then move on to position players. So, I go to Baker and tell him to be ready, just I case. Well, throughout the whole game, he's in my ear, 'C'mon coach, let me in.' At this point Kish is cruising and it looks it looks like we won't need any on one else to pitch, but Coach Touma tells me to have baker go get ready because he's going in. I tell Baker to go get hot and he gets all excited, 'Are you serious?!?!' and I was like, 'Yeah, go, go!!' The back story to all this is that, Baker is always talking about how good a pitcher he is and how he can throw like Johan Santana. So, he's in the pen warming up, getting all ready. Kish starts to struggle, so I look at Baker and tip my cap and he starts waving and waving all ready to go in. Then, I had to shake my head to let him know that he wasn't going. We ended the game with Mike Vecchi and Baker sat on the bench the rest of the game and didn't say a word."

Baker is very serious when it comes to playing the game of baseball, not just on the field, but off. DSC Head Coach Tim Touma learned that during his recruitment of Knox, "We worked him out, liked him and offered him a scholarship. He said, 'OK, I'll think about it and call in a couple days.' A couple days go by…nothing. I call him and he doesn't call me back. Finally, after a few days I get hold of him and ask if he wants to come here and he says, 'Oh, yeah.' Then, I ask him why he just didn't call me back and tell me he wanted to play and he goes, 'I just wanted to make you guys a little nervous.' That's how he is, he wants to be the leader, he wants the challenge and I think he takes it all on very well, "Coach Touma went on to add. "He's always talking with guys, always vocal, just a great guy to have around the ball club."

Knox plans on attending The College of Charleston in South Carolina next season. "I just want to keep playing the way I'm playing now," Knox said about moving on from DSC. "I hope the guys there, play just as hard as these DSC guys.

If Knox brings the same energy and leadership to the College of Charleston as he has to our Daytona State Falcons, they may be a force to reckoning with next year.

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