Pair of Houn’ Dawgs sign to compete at next level

Wednesday was a big day for the Aurora athletic department as Sage Welch and Trey Mulholland inked their name to play college ball next season.
Trey Mulholland signed to play baseball at Crowder College in Neosho alongside former Dawg Gage Singer for one of the top junior college programs in the nation.
“Its nice to finally have it done. I’m heavy on paper and solid that I know where I’m going for the next few years and its nice,” Mulholland said. “Crowder is a great program with great people. I have had a lot of family go there and I know coach (Travis) Lallemand and everyone that works there on a personal level, so it was a pretty easy decision when they wanted me to go there, it was pretty easy to make my choice.”
Aurora coach James Hoffman was pleased with his player's choice.
“Its awesome from a family standpoint,” Hoffman said. “He gets to go play where his dad played so there’s some nostalgia there and its pretty neat that he will get to stay home. … There is only four local kids on their 40-man roster with two of them being DI kickbacks including our Gage Singer. So, it means a lot to send multiple kids to a program like that in a three year span.”

Welch to play basketball
Also signing Wednesday was Sage Welch. Welch signed to play basketball for Darin Meinders at Baptist Bible College in Springfield. However, Welch will get the unique opportunity to be a multi-sport college athlete, as he will also golf for Darin’s son, Dallas Meinders.
“I’m feeling all the emotions right now,” Welch said. “I’m still not ready to leave Aurora, but I’m excited, nervous, kind of scared, but mostly excited to take on BBC. I am really blessed to say the least. Not everyone gets to play sports at the next level but I get the opportunity to play two. I’m just ready to get to work for both sports.”
Aurora basketball head coach Adam Thornhill was happy for Welch.
“Sage is a player who loves to play and just loves the game, so to have the ability to continue to play at any level is special for a player like that," Thornhill said. "So, I am happy for him that he’s going to have the opportunity to continue to play and play for a program that’s growing tremendously over the last couple years and being part of that is going to be special for him. Also, it’s great that he gets to stay close to his family and selfishly close to me so I can keep going to see him play,”
BBC is coming off of their second straight NCCAA national championship and Sage says he’s thrilled to get to be a part of a campaign to make it three straight.