Nansemond River’s baseball program had a lot of big days last spring. The Warriors won the Southeastern District Tournament and made the VHSL Group AAA State Tournament, both firsts for Nansemond River.

With eight seniors returning going into this coming baseball season, the Warriors are working toward more big days starting in March.

In many ways, though, Nansemond River baseball had one of its biggest days on Monday, in the middle of the offseason, in the school’s cafeteria.

Warriors seniors Brandon Lowe, Kyle Moore and Tyler Brown signed their official commitments to college scholarships on Monday. Lowe and Moore will continue as teammates at Maryland. Brown is going to Wingate.

“It’s not too often you have guys signing early. We’re fortunate to have three guys here today. These guys truly deserve what they’ve earned,” said Nansemond River head coach Mark Stuffel.

All three signees were key players on a deep Warrior team that reached the state quarterfinals last season. Starting late in the regular season, the Warriors went on a winning streak that took them through all three games in the district tournament.

Eventual state runner-up South County, with an undefeated season going at the time, beat the Warriors with two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 12-11 final.

Lowe, NR’s shortstop, hit .493 on the season and scored 31 runs in 27 games. Moore, an outfielder, hit .346 with five homers and 28 RBI. Brown, who sees action at pitcher, second base and the outfield, was 6-3 with a 2.98 earned run average on the mound. Brown had 31 runs and nine doubles at the plate.

“We’re lucky to have these guys for one more season,” Stuffel said. Stuffel said there will probably be more announcements and ceremonies for his senior class in the coming months.

Even as Warrior teammates and teammates with Canes Baseball, an organization of year-around select teams based in Fredericksburg, Moore and Lowe say picking the Terrapins, with Moore announcing his verbal commitment about a week earlier than Lowe this past summer, was simply coincidence.

“Hearing (about Kyle) was cool. I mean, we’ve been playing together since we were really young, but it was all separate,” Lowe said.

Maryland went 21-35 last season under second-year head coach Erik Bakich. Bakich was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt before becoming Maryland’s head coach.

“They (Maryland) have watched me with the Canes during the last two years,” Moore said.

“It’s every weekend,” Moore said about the select schedule, “basically all through the summer and fall, but it’s fun.”

“If it’s what you want to do, if you have passion for it, you have to love it. I’d play every day if I could,” Moore said.

Brown wanted to go to a school in North Carolina, where he lived prior to he and his family moving to Suffolk three years ago. Wingate, an NCAA Div. II school near Charlotte, went 34-22 and reached the NCAA Regional Tournament last season.

Along with being a standout volleyball player for Nansemond River in the fall, Brown plays for Canes Baseball as well. The last few months included Canes tournaments and showcases on weekends and splitting volleyball practice with baseball workouts at NR during the week.

“We’re going to work hard to build on last season. We want to make more history,” Brown said.