CENTREVILLE — Hunter Devall said it was kind of unexpected, but at the same time, a dream come true.

The junior southpaw for the Centreville Academy baseball team was given a scholarship offer from LSU this past weekend, and committed to the Tigers following the LSU-Ole Miss football game.

“I didn’t think they’d offer me so soon,” Devall said. “I hadn’t talked to them a whole lot. It was kind of random.”

But Devall, who is from Clinton, La., already had offers from several other SEC schools. Devall said once the offer came, it was an easy decision for him.

“I was trying to boil (my choices) down and get the situation over with so I could focus on getting better for the season and getting my grades up,” Devall said.

“I was glad to get it over with, especially with it being LSU. You grow up in Louisiana, you can’t help but be an LSU fan.”

It came down to more than just fandom, however. Devall said the facilities and coaching staff played a huge part in him being comfortable in choosing the Tigers.

“I’m very honored to have an opportunity to go to LSU,” Devall said. “They’re a top-of-the-line program, and it doesn’t get any better than that. The coaches are really good guys.”

And the coaches told Devall that they loved his presence on the mound, which was one of the main reasons for offering him.

“When I get up there, I want to compete,” Devall said.

Devall was also drawing interest from Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Alabama, Tennessee, Boston College, Virginia, Central Florida, Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana-Lafayette.

Devall’s arsenal includes a fastball that sits at 87-89 mph, and topping out at 90. He also has a breaking ball and a circle change.

“My fastball used to be my most dominant pitch, but now I have control of all three,” Devall said.

“If you don’t have three pitches, you can’t really do it. Once you get to this level, you have to have three pitches, or you won’t be dominant.”

And the changeup has become a really good weapon as of late, Devall said.

“In the past couple of years, I never really worked on it, because I wasn’t able to throw it likes I wanted to,” he said. “This past summer, I worked hard on it, and I’ve been going to it a lot lately. It’s probably one of my better pitches, to be honest.”

With his college decision out of the way, Devall can now focus on his junior and senior seasons at Centreville.

“We have a great group of guys. Just about everyone’s back (from last year). We only lost two seniors,” he said.

“We’ve been working hard since the first day of school. Coach Jason Horne and (assistant) coach Mark Mann are two really good guys, and I think everyone’s really in it to win it this year.”