LANCASTER, Calif.—Being an athlete and earning top grades is not easy for most high school students, but Jakari Bass, 17, graduated from Lancaster High School with a 3.8 grade point average and a college scholarship. He was also a star player on the school baseball team.

It wasn’t easy for him to get as far as he did, Jakari admittted, but studying late nights and practicing long hours may have helped him pave the way to a prosperous future.

Jakari’s scholarship was at Texas Southern University in Houston, majoring in business and playing baseball, hopefully as the team’s ace pitcher. Jakari hurls his fastball at around 86 mph, and says he has command of a curve, change-up, slider, split-finger fastball, and cut fastball. His “out” pitch is the slider.

“I think education is the foundation point for everything,” said Jakari. “If you don’t have that it’s hard to achieve what you want to in life.”

Although he’s in love with the game of baseball, the scholar-athlete understands that his future is dictated by the choices he makes now. His goal is not solely to become a professional baseball player. The future businessman wants to own a team.

 “I figured that if baseball doesn’t work out, there are so many other opportunities to be involved in and I still get to be a part of the team.”

Currently, there are no African American owners in major league baseball. The Huffington Post recently reported that racial diversity got a low grade in the category of presidents and vice presidents. Only the Houston Astros’ president of business operations, Pam Gardner, qualifies.

As a small child, Jakari remembers riding in the car past a park and watching others playing on the diamond. He says it was then he decided he wanted to be involved in the game. Now that he’s maturing into an adult, Jakari has developed a strong relationship with the sport.