While Dustin Gipson was unable to play his final season of high school baseball, the Harrisburg senior isn’t done playing yet. Gipson signed with North Central Missouri College on Monday and will join the Pirates on campus in the fall.

Gipson was recruited by Harrisburg native and NCMC assistant coach Tyler Hudlow, who will be in his sixth season with the Pirates next season.

“I’ve coached him since he was 13, so I know him pretty well,” Hudlow said. “He comes from a great family, he’s a hard-working kid and we’re just excited to get him into our program. I think he’ll fit right in.”

Gipson is looking forward to the small college experience at the college in Trenton with an enrollment of just over 1,800.

“I come from a small town, so a small school will be great for me,” Gipson said.

Gipson was 13-52 at the plate during his junior season, scoring 12 runs. He threw just over 18 innings on the mound, finishing the season with a record of 3-2 with two saves and 25 strikeouts.

Harrisburg head coach Chris Ackman sees Gipson benefiting from the experience of playing around 80 games a year through fall and spring baseball at the junior college level.

“I think it’s a great fit for him,” Harrisburg head coach Chris Ackman said. “The great thing is, each year he’s gotten better and I fully expect the same thing to continue. He hasn’t hit his ceiling on the mound for sure. So I’m excited to see what he’s going to do in the next two years up there.”

Ackman saw Gipson improve each season, both in terms of velocity and in learning to trust his teammates defensively.

“At this level, you have to trust the defense to make plays, you can’t strike everybody out,” Ackman said. “This year, I fully expected him to have more confidence in himself and in his teammates and I think that would have led to quite a bit of success for him and the team.”

Donnie Hillerman has been the head coach at NCMC for 13 seasons. The Pirates finished the 2018-19 season with a record of 15-37, but were off to a 10-11 start in the spring before the coronavirus pandemic canceled the remainder of the season.

The NCMC coaching staff is excited about Gipson’s potential, especially on the pitching mound.

“We like the upside of his arm, he has a very live arm,” Hudlow said. “He’s a real thin guy right now, but we’re hoping we can get him in the weight room and get him to bulk up a little bit. We just see his arm continuing to make that jump up into the 80s. There’s a lot of potential in his arm.”