Unfortunately, four-year baseball programs didn’t get much of a chance to see the freshman pitcher in action as the coronavirus pandemic took away spring baseball across the nation.

But folks on the suburban Syracuse campus certainly took notice of the 2019 Chautauqua Lake graduate.

So much so that he received one of the Lazers Athletic Department’s most prestigious awards.

The school announced Wednesday that Majka was selected out of a pool of more ethan 90 applicants as this year’s Rob Edson Scholarship award winner.

Kyler Majka

“Kyler demonstrates what it means to be a student-athlete. He works hard in the classroom and on the baseball field,” Tracey Edson, Rob’s daughter, said in a statement released by the school. “In addition, he is active in the community and willing to help others at all times.”

Rob Edson was the Onondaga CC athletic director for more than two years when he passed away unexpectedly in the fall of 2013. To honor his commitment to OCC and the community he served, Edson’s friends and family decided to set up a scholarship in his honor.

“I would like to thank the Edson family for choosing to pay tribute to Rob’s life through this scholarship,” Majka said, “and will work hard to honor his name.”

Majka eventually hopes to follow in Edson’s footsteps.

“I am hoping to have a legacy like that, to have an affinity for community service as well as possess integrity and leadership qualities,” said Majka, who is a physical education major and hopes to coach in the future. “I am motivated to help those who cannot help themselves. I will strive to make gym class fun for all and work hard to be a firm but fair coach.”

Majka arrived on the Onondaga CC campus last fall on the heels of a dominant senior season with the Thunderbirds that earned him Post-Journal Player of the Year honors. Of Chautauqua Lake’s eight wins last season, Majka was the winning pitcher in seven. He finished 7-2 with a 0.61 earned run average, striking out 135 batters in just 68• innings.

More importantly, his love for community service was also discovered at Chautauqua Lake. Majka and former classmate Zach Fischer drove a movement to make Drake McKane, then a middle-school student at Chautauqua Lake who was diagnosed with leukemia, an honorary captain for the football team’s season-opening game in 2018. Later that winter, Majka also helped organize a charity basketball game for the McKane family.

“I’ve known Drake since we were little,” Majka said. “When I found out (he had leukemia), I was hurt by it and I wanted to help him out in whatever way I could.”

Back on the baseball diamond last fall, Majka started three games and entered in relief in “four or five others.” Included in those appearances was an outing against NCAA Division II powerhouse LeMoyne College.

“I felt like I did pretty well for my first time playing college ball,” Majka said. “LeMoyne was my best performance. I shut them down for three innings and felt pretty good about that.”

The Lazers were set to open their spring season Sunday, March 15 with a doubleheader against Mohawk Valley CC, but that never happened.

“As of that Thursday, it was still a go, but then Mohawk Valley canceled weekend travel. We went to practice Friday and that was it,” Majka said of the initial COVID-19 cancellations. “We were sent home. It was rough knowing we were all ready to go and our team looked great.”

The loss of the season was even tougher on Majka and his freshmen teammates, who were hoping to use their first year of community college baseball to impress four-year schools for an opportunity down the road.

“I felt like this year was the year to go out and do what you can do to get noticed by colleges at higher levels,” Majka said. “That’s how you get your name out during freshman year. Now we don’t have any statistics until sophomore year.”

Still, the 5-foot-10 right-hander is optimistic about next season with the Lazers.

“We had a couple of sophomores that were going to be big relief pitchers for us this year,” Majka said about different opportunities that might be available. “But I feel like I can have a No. 1 or No. 2 spot in the rotation next spring.”

If he dominates on the field like he did in the classroom and the community this year, coaching staffs across the northeast should be blowing up his cellphone attempting to add him to their rosters.