Early High School 2023 graduate Caydon Laird will be continuing his education and baseball career at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina.

Lenoir-Rhyne is a member of the South Atlantic Conference in the NCAA Division II ranks and is coming off a 38-16 season, including a 15-9 conference mark, in 2023.

The Lenoir-Rhyne Bears have a tradition of being nationally ranked under head coach Chris Ramirez, the 2018 NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year.

Laird played four years of varsity baseball at Early and is coming off a senior campaign in which he was named District 8-3A Pitcher of the Year for the Longhorns, who again advanced to the postseason.