MURFREESBORO – Hertford County native Dexter Carter made a key decision here early Wednesday morning.

After days of soul searching, Carter made a decision about his future on the baseball field.

Carter spent last season at Louisburg College, despite being drafted last year by the Texas Rangers. He had an excellent season with Louisburg and the Rangers were ready to bring him onboard.

Dexter’s father, Larry Carter, received a call two weeks ago indicating the Rangers wanted to do an MRI on Carter to make sure he hadn’t suffered any permanent damage when he had a stress fracture earlier this year.

Larry Carter said Dexter’s advisors said no because it would have ended the younger Carter’s eligibility if the Rangers paid for the flight to Texas and the MRI.

The Carters then took care of getting the MRI for the Rangers and shipped it to Texas. There, after doctors had confirmed no problems with Carter’s arm, the Rangers made a move to sign Dexter.

After discussion, the Rangers offered the Murfreesboro native a one-time $40,000 signing bonus with a salary that would equal approximately $1,100 per month paid only when Carter was actually participating in the season.

&uot;I came home and talked to my wife,&uot; Larry Carter said. &uot;We told Dexter it was going to be his decision.

&uot;We told him if he wanted to play baseball, we would do everything we could to help,&uot; Carter added.

From that point, his son took over the story.

&uot;It took my about point three seconds to answer the question,&uot; Dexter Carter said. &uot;I decided I wanted to go to a four-year school and get a degree.&uot;

Once that decision was made, Carter assembled a list of schools to consider. They included Old Dominion University, East Carolina University, North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland, North Carolina A&T University, Virginia Commonwealth University and Liberty University.

&uot;I called all the coaches and they all indicated they were interested in me,&uot; Carter said.

After talking to his advisors, he eliminated A&T, Virginia Commonwealth and Liberty from the list.

He then visited the other five schools and talked to their coaches and narrowed the list to three: N.C. State, East Carolina and Old Dominion.

Since he received the most scholarship money from East Carolina and Old Dominion, Carter whittled the decision down to those two schools. He said he spent hours discussing the matter with both parents.

&uot;At about 12 a.m., I’m sitting on the couch and I said, ‘I think I know where I want to go,’&uot; he said. &uot;I called coach Ryan Morris of Old Dominion and asked if they still had the number 14 for me. I committed to them about 12:14 a.m.&uot;

Carter then made the trek to Norfolk, Wednesday morning and almost 12 hours to the minute, signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Old Dominion.

&uot;It was one of the toughest decisions I’ve made in my entire life,&uot; Carter said. &uot;Old Dominion is within 30 miles of many people I’ve been involved with in my baseball life.&uot;

Carter said he would be joining a team that included players he played with at Greenbrier Christian Academy and student-athletes he played against.

&uot;I felt like I might as well keep playing with them,&uot; he said. &uot;They are good kids. I felt at home when I went to ODU because I know everybody.&uot;

Carter will major in Sports Management at ODU with a minor in business.

He will pitch as well as having he opportunity to play in the field.

In the meantime, Carter will pitch for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plains League. He’ll make his debut on the mound at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.