At age 9 Austin was traveling to the ball field on his bike for a baseball game when he nearly had a serious accident. He was trying to carry his baseball glove, bat and ball and steer and stop his bike at the same time. 

As a response to that dangerous experience Austin went right into his basement and invented the Battie Caddie™, a rack that attaches to any bike handlebars to hold a bat, ball, and glove enabling the rider to keep both hands safely on the handlebars. The rack is easy to attach and remove from the bicycle. With the Battie Caddie now ALL those kids who ride their bikes to Little League, softball/ baseball practices and ball games can safely maintain proper control of the bike with their equipment in tow.

Austin was inducted into the National Gallery for Americaʼs Young Inventors ( Hall of Fame) 1999. He won the National Grand Prize in the Discovery Network and MediaOne Broadcastingʼs Ultimate Invention Contest and has appeared on several television news programs including Dennis Miller and ABC World News.