Baseball was the first love of Eastern Kentucky basketball star Nick Mayo. Yes, Mayo is the Colonels' stellar 6-9 forward who has been voted OVC Freshman of the Week nine times this season.
 
Sports have always been a big part of the Oakland, Maine native's life, but, as a child, basketball was not a clear favorite.
 
"Basketball is my favorite now, but when I was growing up it was kind of whatever was in season," Mayo said. "My dad played baseball, never basketball, so I kind of wanted to follow in his footsteps."
 
Mayo was a dual-position player on the diamond, skilled at both first base and pitching; however, his favored role was on the rubber.
 
"I loved pitching, because I liked having control of the game. I also grew up into pitching, because my dad was a pitcher," Mayo remembered.

 
Mayo played both sports in high school, even helping Messalonskee High School win a state baseball title his freshman year; however, he dropped baseball his junior year to focus on a traveling AAU basketball team (this, of course, ended up being a good move … for both Mayo and EKU).
 
But, he couldn't stay off the mound long.
 
Mayo made his much-anticipated return to the dugout his senior year and led Messalonskee High back to the state playoffs. The Eagles fell to powerhouse Bangor High School, 9-3, in the Eastern Maine semifinals, but Mayo served as the ace pitcher on a squad that finished the 2015 season with a record of 14-4.
 
Now at EKU, and focusing exclusively on basketball, Mayo has blossomed into one of the top freshmen in the country.
 
That is not to say the transition from high school to college athletics has been easy for the 2015 Gatorade Maine Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Mayo has had to adjust to Division-I basketball – the fact that everyone is so much bigger, older, stronger and more athletic.
 
But, he has responded well. Mayo ranks 16^th among all freshmen in the country in total points this season (421), and he ranks ninth in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring (16.9 points-per-game) and third in field goal percentage (63.0) during league play.
 
Despite his success on the hardwood, Mayo looks back on his days on the baseball diamond longingly.
 
"[While pitching] I didn't give up many runs, that's for sure," he recalled with a smile.
 
His finest moment as a baseball player? It might have come well before the high school state title and all of the accolades that followed.
 
"When I was 11 or 12, I was in a tournament, and I threw a no hitter," he said.
 
"Out of the 38 outs I recorded at the tournament, 35 of them were strikeouts."