BOONE, N.C. – More than 3,600 App State students earned their diplomas at the University's spring commencement in mid-May. Among them were 11 baseball student-athletes.
Ryan Arrowood and Colin Schmid were part of that group, but their degrees required more patience and a different type of determination. Pitchers who played professionally after being picked in the first 15 rounds of MLB Drafts, Arrowood and Schmid made good on separate plans to complete work toward their degrees once they were finished with pro baseball.
Arrowood and Schmid rank first and third, respectively, in career strikeouts for the Mountaineers. They're connected more closely now as fellow App State graduates.
"This act of commitment says so much about these two. This represents what's great about college athletics," head coach
Kermit Smith said. "I have no doubt that their story will impact future Mountaineers throughout the years."
BUILDING ON HIS TIME IN BOONE
A two-way player out of R-S Central High School, Arrowood arrived in Boone in the fall of 2008. Recruited by Chris Pollard and Josh Jordan, Arrowood quickly cemented himself in the pitching rotation by becoming the midweek starter halfway through his freshman campaign. Arrowood soon left hitting behind to become one of the most successful pitchers in program history, winning eight games in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011 and finishing his junior year with a 2.96 ERA.
What really put Arrowood on the map was his performance on Feb. 25, 2012. At Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., the Mountaineer right-hander retired 20 of 23 batters he faced, striking out 10 in seven innings, to help lead App State to a 1-0 victory over No. 7 LSU. He was subsequently named the National Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
"That season was really great because of the team that we had," Arrowood said. "It wasn't just friends on the baseball field, it was friends whenever we got off and we'd go eat dinner together, go eat dinner at each other's houses, so doing that created a bond that you don't always have."
It was the beginning of a record-breaking year in Boone. App State went on to win a program-best 41 games that year and earned an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament, where the Mountaineers went on to compete in the Charlottesville, Va., regional.
"When we were playing and the game was going on, it was as serious and 100-percent effort as it could be," Arrowood said. "But we also stayed loose and relaxed in the dugout with all the jokes and the miscellaneous fun stuff that different guys brought to the table. It was like a big comic show at some points."
Arrowood posted another dominant outing in the regional round against Oklahoma, holding the Sooners hitless into the seventh inning on the way to App State's first postseason victory since 1973.
Less than a week after his masterpiece against the Sooners, Arrowood was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 12
th round of the 2012 MLB First Year Player's Draft. He soon shipped across the country to Pasco, Wash., where he rounded out the season pitching for the Tri-City Dust Devils.
Arrowood went on to play five years in the Rockies organization, making it all the way to Triple-A. He and his wife, Mandy, were engaged after his first full season in the minors, and along with the grind of long seasons and arduous travel, Arrowood thinks back to the way professional baseball shaped him even beyond his days on the mound.
"Only getting to see her a couple months out of the year definitely teaches you stuff and helps you build strong relationships – helps you communicate," Arrowood said." Baseball has definitely helped me from a family standpoint from learning that way."
Baseball also led Arrowood to his current career path in construction in Cumming, Ga.
After being released in 2019, Arrowood began coaching travel baseball and developed a relationship with the father of one of his players – his current boss at Cornerstone Forming, which lays the concrete foundation for high-rises and office buildings. Arrowood began working there in 2017 and currently handles the company's estimates and business development.
It wasn't exactly the career that Arrowood envisioned when he stepped foot in Boone a decade earlier. The Rutherfordton, N.C., native actually began his college career as an exercise science major.
"I quickly realized that chemistry and organic chemistry and chem II and all those fun classes were not going to be for me," Arrowood said with a laugh.
He met with academic advisor Jean Roberts, who worked with Arrowood to switch his degree to recreation management, with the thought that he might open a baseball training facility after college.
"It didn't pan out quite the way I thought, but she definitely helped me at that time figure out what I wanted to do," Arrowood said. "It was great that Ms. Jean was there to lead us to where we needed to be and help get us on track for what we needed to make us successful on the field as well."
Arrowood knew he had unfinished business. He had wanted to complete his App State degree after his baseball career concluded, but after the birth of his daughter, Riker, in 2016 (and his son, Emerson, three years later), traveling back-and-forth to Boone simply wasn't feasible. He explored transferring his credits to another institution, but that didn't quite pan out either.
With the COVID-19 pandemic altering App State's online offerings, Arrowood was finally able to go back to school online.
"There were definitely some late nights and some stressful moments," Arrowood said when asked about balancing his roles as a father, a student, and a full-time professional.
On top of all that, he and Mandy were in the process of having a house built, so for a time the family (including two dogs) was living out of a camper while the construction was completed. Add on an internship at Fusion Gymnastics and Arrowood had his hands full.
It all made wearing the cap and gown that much sweeter. Arrowood walked into the Holmes Convocation Center the morning of May 12. He was greeted by an usher who asked if there was a group of friends with whom he had planned to sit. Arrowood smiled. Most of his friends had graduated 11 years earlier — he didn't know a soul.
But after taking his place, he saw his wife and kids, his parents and mother-in-law, all of whom helped push him along the way to the completion of his educational journey.
"It was really cool," Arrowood said. "Having my kids see me finish and accomplish something, hopefully that can help push them later on to want to strive to do the same thing. "
BRICK-BY-BRICK APPROACH
A native of New Bern, N.C., Schmid grew up about half an hour from the beach, and he was ready for a change of scenery when college rolled around. The Boone mountains came calling, and he joined forces with Chandler Seagle, his New Bern High School teammate.
Schmid also began his App State career as a two-way player, serving as the team's designated hitter and Sunday mound starter his freshman season. As a sophomore, he became the Saturday starter, posting a 3.61 ERA that ranked seventh in the Sun Belt, before moving into the Friday night role in 2018.
The left-hander recalls his development at App State coming primarily in learning how to read a hitter's swing, and figuring out which pitches of his were working in a given start and determining how best to utilize them. But, most of all, he cherished the moments spent with his teammates.
"A lot of what I enjoyed was being with the guys, getting up early in the morning and getting after it with them," Schmid said. "At the time it stinks, but looking back, those are the memories that you can't re-create anywhere else. I think that really helped us pick each other up when we needed to. It allowed us to brush things off when they didn't go well and enjoy it a lot more when they did."
In the classroom, Schmid was a construction management major, with a minor in Spanish. On the mound, after striking out 224 batters in three seasons (third most in App State history), Schmid was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 13
th round of the 2018 First Year Player's Draft.
Schmid played the remainder of that year at rookie league Johnson City. Over the next three seasons, he was promoted to Single-A and then to Advanced-A, enjoying his best season in 2021, when he boasted a 2.57 ERA.
Not only was Schmid growing on the field, but his Spanish minor made him a very popular teammate in the clubhouse.
"They all called me the 'Latin white boy'," Schmid said with a chuckle. "It's pretty cool to have that ability – I'm teaching them English while they're teaching me Spanish, and it's a good time.
It helps the team mesh, too, because sometimes with the language barrier people kind of get into their own groups, just naturally, so I was able to bridge that gap a little bit. It honestly earned me a lot of respect, too, that I was able to communicate effectively."
Because Schmid left school early, being drafted following his junior season, he made sure to make school a priority every offseason. He took a couple of online classes each year, balancing his schoolwork with his offseason workout and throwing programs.
"I think there's definitely something to be said for having the drive and dedication to make this a part of my life every offseason and making sure I'm growing toward a future career, not just with baseball," Schmid said.
He added that having to manage his time effectively, while also communicating with his professors and fellow students on a daily basis, really prepared him for the 'real world.'
After his baseball career concluded last summer, Schmid got to work on the final requirement for his degree – an internship – partnering with Riverbirch Remodeling Co. in Raleigh.
He was able to parlay that into a full-time construction job, which he started this summer. Schmid serves as an assistant project manager and project engineer at Environmental Air Systems, a commercial HVAC company.
In between, Schmid received his App State diploma, putting a stamp on his academic career.
Schmid is very appreciative that he was able to chip away at his degree, little-by-little, and recommends that those who follow in his footsteps take a similar approach.
"If you're coming out of school, I would say plan preemptively to chip away at your coursework and whatever you have left to finish in the offseasons," Schmid said. "It's definitely doable. You never know when you're going to get released – it could be 10 years later where you're still playing pro ball – but if you haven't been going back to school and chipping away, no matter how far you've made it, you still are in a tough spot with whatever career you may be in."
A lesson in foresight, resilience, and follow-through. From Mountaineer stars, to professional athletes, to working professionals, Arrowood and Schmid are officially App State alums.
