CENTRAL POINT - Tim Asay, a hard-working first baseman who leads his Crater High baseball teammates by example, is seeing his work ethic pay off.

Asay, 18, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior, continues to produce impressive numbers during his senior year in the classroom and on the field.

The three-sport athlete is batting .326, with two home runs and 12 runs batted in and sports a 3.9 grade-point average.

Linfield College has taken notice of Asay's accomplishments and offered early acceptance and athletic and academic scholarship money. Asay accepted.

He will play football and baseball for Linfield, starting next fall. He plans to major in elementary education.

"I think I fit the town (McMinnville) and the school real well," says Asay, who plans to coach some day. "It's nice how things work out if you keep working hard."

Linfield football coach Jay Locey says the Wildcats will use Asay as a defensive end. He will continue to be a first baseman in baseball.

"I talked to coach Locey, and he says I remind him of one of the seniors who started last season as a defensive end," says Asay. "He says he thinks I'll have a chance to start. The good thing is I won't have to redshirt in baseball or football. I can get started right away.

"I've always been told being a good student and keeping your grades up will pay off. Now, I can concentrate on finishing my senior year the way I planned."

One of Asay's goals was to win the SOC championship in baseball, and the Comets were picked by SOC coaches to win it.

The Comets are 7-3, one game behind first-place North Medford (8-2) in the SOC. Crater visits Eagle Point for two games today, beginning at noon.

"Basically, all we can do is keep playing hard and hope for the best," says Asay. "No matter what, we will be in the state playoffs, and we can still play for a state championship. That's our goal. We'll play hard and see where we are on May 16 (when the regular season ends)."

Asay is having a solid senior year defensively and offensively as the Comets' first baseman. He's fielding at a .989 clip, with only one error in 18 games.

"He works very hard," says Crater coach Chuck Dominiak. "His teammates pick up on that. He can definitely play for Linfield. He's strong, and he hits the ball hard most of the time. We're working on getting him to pull the ball more, but he's a solid hitter and player. He's a team player who will do anything we ask of him."

In just his second season playing football, Asay earned second-team Southern Oregon Conference all-star honors last fall.

"It's going to be hard to play two sports and take care of my school work in college," says Asay. "But I think I can do it. If it becomes a problem, I guess I might have to cut down to one sport."