Stephen Lumpkins knew his walk from the mound to the dugout on July 31 would be his last.

The southpaw had just thrown a wild pitch, walked three consecutive batters and his 19.64 ERA ranked second-worst on the Arizona League Royals.

Now, the senior forward leads the American (2-3) basketball team with 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

After being selected in the 13th round of the June 2011 draft, the 6-foot-8-inch Lumpkins left American after his junior season to pursue a professional baseball career in the Kansas City Royals organization. The left-hander spent two years with the Royals’ Arizona League affiliate, but couldn’t make the necessary adjustments to his pitching motion.

Lumpkins planned to return to American to earn his degree in business administration, but had to convince head coach Jeff Jones that he genuinely wanted to be a part of the basketball program. Lumpkins’ abilities to score now fill the void left by the departure of the Eagles’ top two scorers from a year ago.

At Junipero Serra (Calif.) High School, Lumpkins made a name for himself in baseball and basketball. Although his baseball talents drew attention from a handful of big-name schools, Lumpkins had his mind set on being a college basketball player.

“When I took a visit to American, I really just kind of fell in love with the campus and everything and the basketball program there,” he said. “So I thought it was a good fit for me.”

It was at a camp in Kansas where Jones got his first glimpse of Lumpkins, who displayed his rebounding and passing skills well that day, Jones said.

When Jones further inquired about Lumpkins and learned of the athlete’s baseball talents, Lumpkins and his father, Larry, made it clear to Jones that baseball would not interfere with his basketball plans.

“Essentially, his baseball career would be over after high school,” Jones said.

After Lumpkins began his career at American, Larry Lumpkins asked Jones if his son could continue to throw a baseball — nothing more serious than long tossing with his teammates in the offseason — a request that Jones had no issue with and even encouraged.

As the forward’s confidence grew on the basketball court, Jones said, he further developed his scoring skills. He averaged at least 13 points per game and eight rebounds per game in his sophomore and junior years.

But during the offseasons, Lumpkins continued to pitch outside of American, which hasn’t had a baseball team since 1986. He pitched for an American Legion Baseball team for leisure after his freshman season, his father said, and for a college-level team the following summer.

“While I was still focused on basketball as my main focus, I wanted to just make sure I kept up with baseball a little bit,” Lumpkins said. “I knew it was something that I could potentially do after basketball. I wanted to keep a hand in it a little bit.”

Lumpkins pitched well enough to draw attention from the Pittsburgh Pirates, who selected the lefty in the 42nd round of the 2010 draft. But he wasn’t willing to leave school with two years left of eligibility.

But when the Kansas City Royals offered him a signing bonus of $150,000 the following summer, Lumpkins took the opportunity.

“If I wanted to pursue the baseball thing, it was kind of the time I had to do it,” Lumpkins said.

In his first season with the Arizona League Royals, he finished with a 2-1 record with a 7.02 ERA in 33 1/3 innings. In his final two outings, he allowed just one earned run and struck out eight in 6 1/3 innings.

“I definitely thought that I was starting to figure some stuff out,” Lumpkins said.

In 2012, the Royals began to alter his pitching motion with adjustments that Lumpkins couldn’t implement. With his sky-high ERA, Lumpkins left the Royals having allowed eight runs with 11 walks and three wild pitches in just 3 2/3 innings.

With his baseball dreams out of reach, Lumpkins headed back to American to finish his education and receive his degree. But if he wanted to play basketball as an Eagle again, he needed to convince Jones.

“He and I had a couple of productive talks,” Jones said. “I thought that his heart was in the right place. And he convinced me that he missed it and he really wanted to be a part of the program.”

But after 15 months of dedicating himself to baseball, Lumpkins needed to refine his basketball skills.

Senior guard Daniel Munoz — a close friend of Lumpkins — said he received texts from the forward about how hard he was exercising at home in preparation for the season. When the season began, Munoz said, nobody worked harder than Lumpkins — whether it was with the coaches or in the weight room.

Lumpkins has retaken the role of American’s premier player — he scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 62-57 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Nov. 15 — but now has a stronger mentality. Jones said the forward is “clearly a more confident and mature young man” after his year away from the team.

Although Lumpkins visibly has had more success on the basketball court than he did on the baseball mound, he has no regrets about his decision.

“It was something that if I didn’t do it, it was probably something I would’ve regretted for the rest of my life,” he said. “Not a lot of people can say they’ve played professional baseball and Division-I basketball. And it’s worked out great that I’m able to come back to school this year and play basketball.”

Published on November 27, 2012 at 11:34 pm

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