Five miles south of Fresno lies the city of Fowler, where privately owned shops are nestled, ready for business. Except on Wednesdays or Fridays, however, when they put signs on their doors reading “baseball game today.”

Those days everyone packed into Fowler High School’s baseball field.

Even before the days of playing for Fowler, Sacramento State first baseman Clay Cederquist has been in love with baseball.

“We were always a baseball family,” said his father, Eric Cederquist. “I remember when we (would) go places and we were sitting around talking to adults, he’d have a stick and pick up rocks and he would hit rocks. I think that’s where he developed that swing.”

Cederquist played three years of varsity baseball at Fowler High School leading the team offensively, hitting a combined .459 with 16 home runs and 107 RBIs.

“It helped push me to my potential,” Cederquist said. “I knew players that got drafted so it gave me the motivation to push myself and that it is possible coming from a small school.”

Despite him watching his final year at Fowler from the dugout after having exploratory surgery to fix a torn labrum the summer before his senior season, Cederquist received a phone call from the Seattle Mariners.

He was selected in the 46th round of the 2009 MLB draft.

“At that time, I was thrilled. Just to have your name called is quite an honor,” Cederquist said. “It’s something you dream about when you are a little kid.”

But he decided his dream was going to have to wait. He was not fully recovered from his injury, so he opted for college.

With many offers on the table from schools like Cal, San Diego State University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Irvine, he chose to stay local and attended Fresno State, just up the road from his home town.

“Just being from Fresno, I wanted to play in front of my hometown crowd,” Cederquist said.

In his one season in 2010, he played in 20 games for the Bulldogs and hit a team-high .444, but Cederquist’s playing time was cut limited as he stood in the shadow of national home run leader Jordan Ribera.

He would move his game six miles south to Fresno City College and get the chance to play on a more consistent basis.

Despite taking his game to the community college level Cederquist said he didn’t feel an advantage having playing in Division I the previous year.

“Everyone takes different routes to get to Division I baseball,” Cederquist said. “I learned that it is not looked down upon what program you come from because it is all the same.”

As Fresno City’s first baseman, he led the Rams in batting, hitting .358 with 14 doubles and 19 RBIs.

With a college baseball career well underway, Cederquist was also given an opportunity to travel to Alaska to play for an amateur team for college baseball players.

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots are just one of the teams across the country that play within the National Baseball Congress and it is designed to develop players to make the transition from a college to the pros, said general manager John Dyson.

Cederquist played two seasons for the Pilots and he said it was one of the best baseball experiences of his life.

“I’ve never had 7 p.m. games that didn’t need to use lights,” Cederquist said. “It was great and to see that part of the country was phenomenal.”

The Fowler native would return home just to pack his bags to head to Sacramento State.

“He was recruited by Sacramento State when he decided to go to Fresno State and he never forgot that experience on how he was treated,” said Eric Cederquist.

In his first seven games as a Hornet, Cederquist has four RBIs with seven hits and even though his team has a 4-3 record he tries to keep a loose mood in the clubhouse naming himself the team prankster.

“There is definitely a time to be serious and a time to lighten up the mood and as players we know when that is,” Cederquist said.

Whether he is raising teammates practice shirts up the flagpole or putting pine tar in their batting gloves, he is there to make the team smile. Cederquist knows when it is time for baseball and on the field his hitting coach, Tommy Nicholson can see that.

“Clay is a grinder and he really works hard,” Nicholson said. “He is one of those guys who elevates others around him with his play and work ethic.”

No matter what uniform he puts on, Cederquist looks to do the same thing no matter where he plays baseball.

“The plan is to get this team as deep into the post season as we can,” Cederquist said. “When it all comes together we are going to be a very good team.”

Ryan Kuhn can be reached at @rskuhn