Jacob Ribeiro is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Arizona College Preparatory Academy for AZPreps365.com

Arizona College Preparatory baseball has several players who will be playing college baseball next year, one of whom is Grant McInturf, a senior pitcher who is committed to playing college baseball at Master's University. 

The special thing about Grant is that he will be following the footsteps of his brother Eli McInturf. Eli McInturf is also a pitcher who played on the same team as Grant in high school and is two years older than him. 

“There were a lot of games sophomore year I’d start, and he’d be closer, and it’s just really cool, like not many people get to high school with their brother and even college as well,” said Grant McInturf.

Grant and his brother have a great connection and have always pushed each other to be better ever since they were kids. 

“He’s helped me in the summers and offseason, throwing with me and being someone to play catch with every day,” Grant McInturf said. “When we were little kids, I’d always be out at his games watching him and the older players play, looking up to them,” said Grant McInturf.

Head coach Andrew Pollak has seen the growth and development of them both as not only players but also people outside of the field. 

He has been the head coach at ACP since the program started five years ago and has witnessed their bond and journey to the next level of baseball the whole way through. 

“They both show up, they love baseball, they put the time in, and they work their tails off,” Pollak said. “Both of them have been so much fun to coach.”

Coach Pollak has known the two boys since Grant was in eighth grade, hanging around the field and being at practice when his older brother Eli was only a sophomore. 

“Eli started as a sophomore, and I think Grant was in eighth grade,” Pollak said. “So, I saw Grant around the field that first season. I’m like, okay, we got another McIntruf coming. They’ve been a part of this whole growth, so they’ve just seen how far the program has come, and they’ve been a big part of the growth and success we’ve had.

Another person who has seen both of them blossom as players and individuals is their father, Jason McInturf. He goes to every single game and helps the ACP baseball team play their walkup songs for each player. 

“It’s just the fact that they love baseball,” Jason McInturf said. “I mean, even when they don’t have to, they ask if we can go to the park and throw. That’s the kind of thing that they just always love to do. It makes it really easy to want to give good because they always want to do it.”

Both of them have come a long way fromT-ball together to middle school travel teams to high school teammates and soon-to-be college teammates. The McInturf family is all about baseball.