Mother Nature put on a spectacular lightning performance Monday evening as a crowd gathered on Miners Field at 3 Legends Stadium.

But it was Quinn Cox and Ethan “Easy” Cunningham who stole the show.

The two Butte Miners stars signed on the dotted line to take their baseball games to the next level. Cox will play for NCAA Division II MSU-Billings, while Cunningham will go to Spokane Falls Community College.

Cox and Cunningham signed their respective Letters of Intent while surrounded by family, friends, coaches and teammates. The duo was seated at a table set up between home plate and the pitcher’s mound.

It was a perfect setting for a Butte Miners battery for the ages. Both players were key members of the Miners 2022 State and Northwest Regional championship team. They were team leaders for a 2024 Butte squad that came within one win of the State tournament.

Cox, who earned All-State and all-conference at catcher for the Butte High Bulldogs, was the primary catcher for the Miners after missing the 2022 season with a knee injury.

He hit .303 with a .431 on-base percentage. He hit five doubles and a home run, driving in 32 runs and scoring 25. He walked 16 times and struck out just eight. He was hit by 13 pitches. In addition to taking over more pitch calling behind the plate, he threw out 12 would-be base stealers out of 55 attempts. That is a caught-stealing rate of 21.8 percent.

Cox plans to continue his career behind the dish with the Yellowjackets.

Cunningham, who attended Montana Tech for one year after graduating from Butte High in 2023, was the ace for the Miners as a super senior in 2024. He went 7-2 with a 1.93 ERA. He struck out 90 batters and walked 26 in 65.1 innings. He pitched eight innings to get the win in Butte’s lone victory in the South A district tournament.

When he wasn’t on the bump, Cunningham played second base for the Miners. He hit .333 with a .450 on-base percentage and a .950 OPS. He hit 13 doubles and drove in 27 runs.

Cunningham plans to play in the field and pitch for the Sasquatch.

Before signing, Cox and Cunningham sat down to record an episode of the ButteCast. That episode will drop on Tuesday.

In the photo, Miners coach Jim LeProwse sits between Cox and Cunningham as family members of the two players celebrate the occasion.