ROBERTSDALE — Steen Bellerjeau’s childhood dream came true Monday afternoon when he signed his National Letter of Intent at Central Christian School to join the Grace College baseball team and officially call himself a college athlete.

“I’m so excited, it’s a dream come true to play college baseball,” Bellerjeau said. “Ever since I started playing as a little kid, I’d never imagined in a million years I’d be able to say I’m going to be a college athlete so it’s something crazy.”

Although Bellerjeau may have had an unconventional path to the diamond after he transitioned to homeschooling in sixth grade, he took an opportunity to join the Saints at Central Christian and never looked back.

Entering Week 8 of his senior season, the 6’ 4”, 205-pound pitcher/corner infielder Bellerjeau had collected a .613 batting average with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs, 19 RBIs and 18 runs scored. On the mound, he owned a 2-1 record with a 1.75 ERA to go along with 37 strikeouts in 16 innings pitched. Only 11 of the batters he had faced recorded outs in the field.

Central Christian entered this week of play with a 5-6 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the West Division of the Panhandle Christian Conference for third place.

While he spent earlier years in the classrooms at Bayside Academy and Bayshore Christian, Bellerjeau acknowledged he did narrow his college search to smaller Christian schools where he knew he could also make an impact on the baseball field. His decision also set up his path to an ideal occupation once the baseball part of his dream is ultimately over.

Once he walked on the campus of Grace College, all Bellerjeau had to do was catch a glimpse of the iconic Winona Lake that runs alongside the western part of campus.

“I’m interested in going into orthopedics and Grace is actually in the orthopedic capital of the world in Warsaw, Indiana,” Bellerjeau said. “I got up there (on a visit) and I saw the lake and once I saw that lake view, I was pretty hooked and I knew this is where God wanted me to be.”

He also said he immediately felt welcomed by a family more than 850 miles from where he’s called home.

“On the visit, it just felt like family, and I could tell that if I went there, everybody would be rooting for me,” Bellerjeau said. “It just had a great family atmosphere that I knew I’d feel really comfortable in and I’m excited to play.”

Bellerjeau had plenty of supporters cheering him on at Central Christian School Monday even though he wasn’t a full-time student in their classrooms.

“It was amazing, I really am astounded and just blown away by how many people showed out,” he said. “The outpouring of love has been something I’ve seen at Central for four years and it’s amazing. I’ve loved my experience being here and this day was just a small glimpse of that.”

In return, Bellerjeau said his biggest goal for his senior year was something that would not show up in a box score next to his name.

“My goal was really not statistically based this year, it was to be a leader in every aspect of the game,” Bellerjeau said. “This year is a little bit of a rebuilding year for us so my goal is really to prepare these guys for the next upcoming years so that they can have a strong team moving forward.”