Stinson followed that season with trips to summer showcases in Fort Myers, Fla., and St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, impressing college and professional scouts all the way.

Pro scouts invited him to play in the prestigious Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif., in August. That weeklong series of games, open to the country’s top 250 pro prospects, is where Stinson caught the eye of the coaches at the University of Oklahoma.

He signed with the Sooners prior to his final high school season.

All of which made the incredible sacrifice by Stinson’s parents, James and Libby, appear even more worthwhile.

Josh, the third of five Stinson children to attend Nederland High, started for the Bulldog baseball team as a sophomore and hit a game-winning home run against PN-G.

But he was suspended for part of that season and there were personality conflicts that convinced the Stinson family it would be in Josh’s best interest for him to transfer out of Nederland High.

Josh and his dad moved into the PN-G district. But school officials wouldn’t OK Josh playing for PN-G under that arrangement. They said the multiple family residences would work only if his parents were legally divorced.

So, for the two years Josh played at PN-G, they were.

“Actually, the main reason (for the transfer) wasn’t baseball, although it kind of looked like that,” Stinson said. “I had some trouble at Nederland at the end of my freshman year. It was just advantageous for me to change environments.

“That (his parents’ divorce) was something we had to do to get it done. My parents have been together forever and they made some pretty big sacrifices for me. I’m glad they did. I earned a lot of friends and respect from people at Nederland because of it. It helped me find out who my friends were.”

Stinson said he picked Oklahoma over Rice because he wanted to play in the Big 12. But really, college ball was supposed to be financial leverage to use with pro scouts when he got drafted after his senior year in high school.

Unfortunately, Stinson’s senior season at PN-G was a big disappointment.

“My senior year was a down year,” he recalls. “My junior year, I was on top of the world and pretty much nobody could get me out. I went from that to not getting pitched to much my senior year, trying to be too aggressive and struggling.

“That made me realize I hadn’t reached the pinnacle. Going to college ball, I knew I had to work hard.”

Straface says Stinson could have been a middle-round draft pick in 2003, but the player and his family advised the pros that it would take a sizable signing bonus to get Josh’s signature.