GREENVILLE, Illinois – Many high school baseball players dream of playing in college.

That dream has come true for Jaxen Gibson.

Gibson, a 2019 Excelsior Springs High School graduate, pitches for Greenville University, an NCAA Division III program. At Excelsior Springs, where he was on the 2018 Class 4 third-place team and the 2019 Missouri River Valley Conference West Division championship team, he was primarily a reliever. At Greenville, however, he is a starter.

As a Tiger, Gibson was a two-time academic all-state selection, an alldistrict pick and an all-conference selection. As a freshman at Greenville, he led the Panthers with five appearances in the COVID-shortened season. As a sophomore, Gibson was the Friday night No. 1 starter, making 11 starts and going 2-7 with a 5.15 earned run average. He threw 64.2 innings and had seven quality starts.

Gibson has some advice for those student-athletes wanting to take their game to another level, as he did.

“High school athletes need to be abl…