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The 2020 season for Randolph-Henry High School’s varsity baseball team could have been many things, but one thing it was definitely going to be was the capstone to Tyrik Beattie’s comeback.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have robbed Beattie of his senior season on the diamond, but it could not take away his achievement of putting himself back in the position to play. He demonstrated significant character in reaching that point after last playing baseball for the varsity Statesmen in 2018.

Varsity Head Coach Josh Barmoy said Beattie played for the junior varsity squad as a freshman and then was moved up to the varsity team as a sophomore. Unfortunately, due to some discipline issues, he was released from the squad during his sophomore campaign and did not make the team his junior year.

“I got in a little bit of trouble last year, and I wanted to show that I could do better,” Beattie said.

And he did indeed — as his coach clearly noticed.

“I’d really like to highlight kind of how he’s made so much progress to get back on the team his senior year and has done so well academically,” Barmoy said. “He’s a kid that had struggled at the beginning of his high school career but really pulled it together towards the end.”

Beattie said his unique contribution to the team this year was going to be bringing a lot of energy.

“Tyrik was going to be definitely a burst of energy for our team,” Barmoy said. “He has a competitiveness like no other. He’s a kid that’s just not going to back down from any challenge, and he’s a guy that can fuel our offense with his speed, just being able to maybe turn a single into a triple with stealing bags.”

Beattie can utilize that speed in the outfield as well.

“He was going to be playing the outfield for us and can pretty much track anything down in the air,” Barmoy said. “We only got two scrimmages in, so he didn’t get to play a whole lot, but he definitely brought a different dynamic to our team when looking at our team from last year to this year.”

The coach described Beattie as a game-changer.

“He was definitely going to be a starter for us,” Barmoy said. “After he got some more reps, we were going to try to get him in that leadoff spot more so hopefully he’d get on base to cause some havoc on the basepaths for when we played other teams.”

Beattie said it was hard not being able to play this season. He noted what he missed most was being around all his friends, teammates and coaches.

“Everybody on the team I played with growing up,” he said.

“It’s just kind of a shame that he didn’t get to fulfill his senior year, as he worked really hard to get back on the field,” Barmoy said. “And also he played basketball too this year, so that was awesome.”

Beattie said baseball is his primary sport, though, for sure. Dixie Youth Baseball helped form the beginning of his playing career.

“This spring was probably going to be the grand finale,” he said. “I was going to try to go out with a bang.”

After the official conclusion of high school, Beattie plans to go to a school in Blackstone and study to be a power lineman.