Eller, Terry selected to Under Armour pre-season tournament

A pair of area baseball players’ perseverance will be rewarded this weekend.

Navarre’s Jacob Terry and Niceville’s Cory Eller, each of whom has battled their own adversities over the past 12 months, will report to Tucson, Arizona today to take part in the 2012 Under Armour Pre-Season All-America Tournament. Terry and Eller, both seniors, were selected to this weekend’s tournament following strong auditions at a tryout held at the University of West Florida last December.

By being selected, the duo will compete against the top high school players from around the country in a 20-team wooden bat tournament that has become a stomping ground for pro scouts from Major League Baseball organizations.

For both Eller and Terry, news of their selection seemed too good to be true.

“I was just more than happy,” Terry said. “I wished that I’d make it, but I didn’t fully expect to. After I got that call saying I had made it, I was excited.”

“It means a lot,” Eller said. “It’s an honor.”

Making their selection even more rewarding was the hardships each had experienced prior to last December’s tryout.

Terry’s struggles last season were more mental than physical. While his arm strength has never been questioned, his control was erratic, at best, at times early on last year. It wasn’t until Raiders assistant coach Justin O’Quinn noticed Terry throwing side armed in the outfield during a practice one afternoon that things began to change.

O’Quinn, on a bit of a gamble, began having Terry take that same three-quarter delivery he toyed with in the outfield with him to the mound. After several bullpen sessions ironing out the wrinkles, Terry’s season turned around.

“It wasn’t too hard because when I was about 12 years old, I used to throw side arm,” Terry said. “My coaches thought it would hurt my arm and they made me throw over the top. Coach O’Quinn saw me messing around and said he liked it and we just stuck with it.

“It feels more natural to me.”

Eller, who like Terry was selected to this weekend’s tournament primarily as a pitcher, threw only a handful of innings at Niceville last season as he dealt with elbow tendonitis. Eagles coach Cory Hamrick, citing an already deep starting rotation and hoping to help alleviate the pain in the elbow, shifted Eller to the outfield.

Following the season, his elbow returning to full-strength, Eller hit the weight room and began to throw long toss on a more regular basis. By the end of the Eagles fall season, Eller’s fastball, one that already had plenty of natural movement and was regularly clocked in the low- to mid-80s, was topping out at 91-92 miles an hour.

“He got some scout’s attention,” Hamrick said. “He’s the definition of a late-bloomer. He started working out in the weight room and he developed some man-muscle. He’s worked relentlessly in the offseason and with that hard work, things have paid off for him.

“Good things happen to good people.”

Like Terry, Eller, who is receiving interest from Division-I programs such as South Alabama and Ole Miss, is eager to make the most of this rare opportunity.

“I just want to perform at the level that I know I can,” Eller said. “Hopefully I can impress some pro scouts.”

Follow Travis Downey on Twitter: @TravisDnwfdn