'Dang, this is cool': Family ties and baseball dreams unite brothers
Being at Auburn has meant everything to Samuel Dutton.
"It's really been a dream come true," Samuel said.
The senior is finding his place on the Division I baseball team.
"I really feel like I'm home and comfortable. There's no doubt that this was the place."
Home is not only where the heart is, but also with his brother Andrew.
"We've done everything together, I guess, is the best way to describe it," Andrew said.
The pair is just 15 months apart in age, and whether it was baseball or anything else, they were together.
"We'd, like, try to get out of school some. We'd just want to stay home and play video games together, play 'Call of Duty' together, so he's always just been kind of my best friend," Andrew said.
The two always played on the same team, from T-ball to Westbrook Christian High School. That changed when the pair went to college, Andrew going to Birmingham-Southern while Samuel headed to Baton Rouge to play at LSU.
"Definitely different, and I thought it was good, just kind of getting away. Now being back together, I'm like 'Dang, it would've been fun to go somewhere together from the start, '" Andrew said.
At the end of Andrew's senior year, Birmingham-Southern closed and he put his name in the transfer portal. Samuel entered his name in the portal as well, looking for a new opportunity after three years at LSU.
"When the opportunity presented itself, we knew we couldn't pass that up," Samuel said.
That opportunity was Auburn; the brothers took a visit together and knew immediately they were home.
"We both put on the jersey and like changed in there, and I was just like, 'Dang this is cool,'" Andrew said.
It's a move that not only brought Samuel and Andrew together, but also the whole family.
"Heaven. To see your boys be together, they were always together when they were young, and now they get to continue that together on the field one last time," Samantha Dutton said.
No more split road trips for their parents.
"My lock screen is actually the picture of them when they were here at Westbrook, the last day that they were in the same uniform together. So once at Auburn, they were in that same uniform together that's now the picture on my screen," Gary Dutton said.
This year Samuel has shined as an ace pitcher for the Tigers. While Andrew has made his impact coaching first base and supporting Samuel.
"He's always been the one to encourage me, like, 'Hey, you could do this, you could go somewhere really big.' He's always been encouraging me, so now that I get to be his biggest supporter in the dugout means a lot," Andrew said.
Though he's still got the Dutton magic. In his first at-bat in an Auburn uniform, he blasted a home run against Jacksonville State.
"It was just almost like a dream, I was just standing there watching it unfold, and all I could do was cry, of course," Samantha said.
It's just another storybook moment for this family.
"It's always been meant to be, God had a plan from day one," Andrew said.
In a year, they'll never forget.
"This has been the best baseball experience I've probably ever had," Samuel said.