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Moffat County Male Athlete of the Year: Bubba Ivers

Nate Waggenspack
Bubba Ivers served as a starting pitcher and center fielder for the Moffat County baseball team. Ivers’ love of the game
Nate Waggenspack





Bubba Ivers served as a starting pitcher and center fielder for the Moffat County baseball team. Ivers’ love of the game, and the success he’s seen while playing it, in part can be credited to his father, who played a major role in his son’s development as a player before passing away from lung cancer when Bubba was in seventh grade.
Nate Waggenspack

A three-year starter at quarterback for the Bulldogs, Bubba Ivers didn’t miss a beat when faced with learning a new offense before the start of his senior season.Nate Waggenspack

Brentten “Bubba” Ivers has seen success in everything he’s done. It’s why the Moffat County senior never is satisfied with being just good.

Ivers has natural athleticism oozing out of him. It’s why the three-year starter at quarterback for the Moffat County High School football team didn’t miss a beat when confronted with learning a new offense in his senior season.

Instead, Ivers made the spread offense his own, amassing more than a thousand yards passing and nearly 1,500 as a ball carrier.



He was a first team all-league selection in football as a result.

On the baseball team, Ivers carried out double duty as a pitcher and center fielder. In his first year as a starter for the Bulldogs, Ivers said he always had the arm but not the mental capacity to pitch before this season.



“My pitching didn’t come around until this year,” he said. “My mechanics were off. I would lose my mental focus during a game or get frustrated and start pitching worse. I figured out how to back off and just pitch the game this year.”

Ivers said that started when he attended a Baseball Factory Preseason All-America Tournament with 400 of the country’s best baseball players this year. He attended the camp as an outfielder but was asked to fill in and pitch after arriving. Ivers retired all 15 batters he faced, striking out eight of them.

“Being at that level and pitching like that, I knew I could hang with the big dogs,” he said. “Even though I’m from a small town, I can be in that group.”

That success on the mound translated to this season, when Ivers was the Bulldogs’ top starter, recording double-digit strikeouts routinely in his starts.

His ability comes from a couple of places, the first being his desire to be the best.

“I want to be the best, so I work as hard as I can to get there,” Ivers said. “I really don’t like losing.”

The other source of Ivers’ drive comes from his father, whom he lost to lung cancer when Ivers was a seventh-grader. Ivers said his dad was a major force in his athletic career, so he continues to play in his memory.

“My dad did pretty much all the sports stuff with me, and we worked on baseball the most,” Ivers said. “All I had to do was ask, and he’d come practice something with me. I’m playing for the team I’m on, but I also play for him. I like to make him see that I’m going somewhere.”

Ivers’ arm and skill at the plate will end up taking him somewhere. He is deciding between playing baseball at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Ariz., or Galveston College in Galveston, Texas. Both schools are recruiting him to pitch and play in the outfield.

Moffat County football coach Kip Hafey always knew baseball was Ivers’ love and believes Ivers has what it takes to go as far as he wants.

“He’s the kind of kid as a coach who you love to have on your team,” Hafey said. “He’s going to do great in whatever he chooses to do because he’s one of those great athletes, and he can overcome adversity. I’ve told him that he’s got to send me a ticket when he’s playing in the big leagues.”


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