
On Friday afternoon in the Trenton High School auditorium, rising senior Jordan Marlo signed to play Division I baseball at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I’ve worked really my whole life to get to this point so far. I’ve been surrounded by a bunch of great people, coaches, teammates, everyone. I mean it’s a helping environment everywhere I go, and it means a lot.”
UWG competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference’s Graphite Division with the University of North Florida, Jacksonville University, Stetson University, Florida Gulf Coast University and Queens University of Charlotte.
“This is a lot of days and nights of hard work and a lot of ups and downs,” said his dad and current Trenton baseball coach Chris Marlo. “This is something that he wanted to do when he was younger, and I tried to provide all the opportunities for him and he kind of took the bull by the horns and ran with it. He’s one of those kids that I’ve got to tell to stop hitting instead of go hit.”
According to Chris Marlo, Jordan is the third player in the Tri-County area to sign Division-I out of high school “in at least the past 10-12 years.”
He joins Dixie County’s Luke Hatcher, who signed with Florida State University before ending up at UWG, and Trenton’s Wyatt Langford, who signed with the Gators and was the fourth overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft.
UWG is a great fit and an opportunity to get on the field early.
“A lot of the major league scouts that I talk to, even the college scouts, they all say the same thing about him. He’s a ballplayer,” Coach Marlo said. “He plays hard, he plays the game aggressive, and you can put him anywhere on the field.”
His rise to prominence began as a teenager when he played in the top travel ball tournament across the country and competed against the top players.
He was a part of Power Baseball for three years and played on nationally-ranked Team Orlando when he was 14. It was a team that was coached by Chris and his brother, Jesse. They played against some of the top teams in the nation and they were ranked third in the country.
“He was batting in the 3-4 hole every game and he was competing with those guys,” Chris Marlo said. “As the years went on, he just continued to get better and better and had more interest and more interest. The University of West Georgia reached out and they went and watched him in a tournament with Power Baseball and they watched him at the WWBA (World Wood Bat Association) in Atlanta where he finished in the top 20 hitters out of 426 teams.”
He’s been a part of two final four teams in high school and is hoping to make it a third this year.
He played in nine games as a freshman in 2022 and batted .348 with eight runs on eight hits, four doubles, and four runs batted for Dixie County (Cross City), which advanced to its first final four in program history.
As a sophomore for the Bears, he batted .366 through 19 games with 15 hits and 22 runs scored. He finished fifth in Class 1A with a .600 on base percentage.
Jordan, who plays second base, battled injuries last year but still had 11 hits and 11 RBI in 16 games played.
In the 4-3 upset win against Newberry in last year’s FHSAA Class 1A-Region 4 Final, he was 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the Tigers (13-12), who advanced to their first final four since 2018.
“It was a fun year,” he said. “It was probably one of my favorite years playing baseball and I’ll never forget the memories we had last year.”
Jordan, who was selected to the PG Jr. National Showcase and also selected to the Florida Diamond Club, batted leadoff and started at second base for the Florida Diamond Club.
FDC is an event that is run by MLB scouts where the top 45-50 players across the state of Florida are selected and coached by MLB scouts. These are the players they feel have future draft potential.
UWG is a step in the next direction, but there is some unfinished business in Trenton for Jordan.
“I think we’re going to be real special this year and surprise a lot of people,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a surprise but I’m really excited. We’ve got a great coaching staff, teammates, people in the community, I mean everything is lined up for us so I’m excited.”