Clay Snellgrove was a starter at shortstop from the first day he arrived on campus in 1994 and turned in one of the best four-year careers the Middle Tennessee baseball team has ever seen.
This year's class will be enshrined during a virtual induction that airs Thursday at 7 p.m. on the Middle Tennessee athletics Twitter, Facebook and YouTube outlets.
It all might never have happened without another former Blue Raider, Steve Zitney, who convinced Snellgrove to wait to turn pro and talk with MT head coach Steve Peterson about college ball.
"I had aspirations of playing professional baseball, but didn't have a lot of prospects to play college in the Midwest where I was in high school in Indiana," Snellgrove said. "Through a coach and now a friend of mine, Steve Zitney, an MTSU grad, I got referred to Coach Pete, and he ended up taking a chance on me."
The Blue Raiders needed a good young shortstop to help keep their streak of conference titles alive. Going into the 1994 season, they had won either an Ohio Valley Conference regular season or tournament title, or both, for four straight years. They weren't about to let that streak stop.
"When I got here, it was immediately clear we were at the top of that conference, and that was not in question," Snellgrove said. "There were just expectations of winning it. … We were always going to be the best team."
Snellgrove quickly fit in at Middle Tennessee both because he could hit and handle the glove.
In his four years, the Blue Raiders won four straight OVC regular season championships and the tournament title in 1995. They participated in play-in series to get to the NCAA tournament in 1994 and 1995, beating Jackson State in 1995 to qualify them for the NCAA West Regional in Fresno, California.
After his career in Murfreesboro finished, Snellgrove was drafted in 1997 in the 24th round by the San Diego Padres. He left Middle Tennessee as the program's leader in games played, hits, at-bats, singles, doubles and sacrifices while also being in the top five in RBIs and total bases.
Snellgrove played in the minors and independent leagues until retiring in 2002, then turned his career sights to other endeavors. He didn't really feel satisfied, though, until a friend mentioned he had been giving baseball lessons and Snellgrove should give it a try.
Now, more than 15 years later, Snellgrove gets to give back to the Murfreesboro community by teaching the game he loves at Bases Loaded, a baseball and softball school.
"Through professional baseball and summer baseball, I've lived in Alaska, California, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia, New York — I've lived everywhere. But, Murfreesboro has the best vibe," Snellgrove said. "I love MTSU and the vision here, and I wanted to come back to this area. Thankfully, a friend of mine had been doing some lessons and invited me to come try it."
Teaching baseball isn't Snellgrove's only career interests. He's also a published author and an EMT.
He and his wife, Erin, have a love for the Murfreesboro area, born out of the four incredible years Snellgrove spent in the Blue Raiders' middle infield. He'll forever reside in his alma mater's hall of fame, an honor he couldn't be more honored to receive.
"MTSU Athletics is a big family … and I know a lot of people who had amazing athletic careers at MTSU who've been inducted," he said. "To be included in that this year is a really special honor."
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