AROUND TOWN

By Adam Fenwick
Managing Editor

When you hear about a baseball player having 16 years of experience in the sport, you certainly don't imagine that player being 21 years old.

For Kevin Dunn, that is exactly the case.

Dunn, now a pitcher for the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, has been playing baseball since he was 5 years old when he began playing T-Ball.

Dunn, who is from Benson, N.C., said that everyone where he is from plays baseball so the choice to play was an easy one to make.

"Everybody where I'm from is into baseball," said Dunn. "It's a way of life around there."

Dunn started off playing nearly every position. Eventually he became strictly a pitcher.

"Early on in Little League I played everywhere," said Dunn. But as I got older I became solely a pitcher."

Dunn started his college baseball career at Barton College in Wilson, N.C. after attending high school at South Johnston High School in Four Oaks, N.C.

"I had opportunities to play at a lot of different colleges," Dunn said.

However, after a year at Barton College Dunn was forced to have Tommy John surgery to reconstruct the ligaments in his right arm. The injury put Dunn out of action for a year, and it gave Dunn time to think about his options.

Eventually he decided to leave Barton College after deciding he didn't like how the team was run by the coaches in charge of the team.

After fully recovering from surgery, he returned to college at Pitt Community College in Greenville, N.C. where he earned his Associate's Degree of Arts.
Dunn says he went to Pitt Community College hoping a big time school would offer him a scholarship but he eventually decided to come to UNCP instead.

"I thought Pembroke was a right fit," said Dunn. "I like it small."

Dunn had played most of his career with the number 25 on his jersey, but when he came to UNCP someone else already had the number. Dunn ended up choosing the number 44, but in his mind it won't make much of a difference.
"It's just a number," said Dunn. "It doesn't depict how you play."

When asked if he had any regrets, Dunn says he wouldn't change anything.