Arlington’s Hamilton leads the way
It would be fair to say that, more than once in the past four years, Arlington baseball coach Chris Ring would have loved to clone pitching star Brady Bramlett.
In the next couple of weeks, Ring may well feel as if he needed to clone Chase Hamilton.
The senior lefthander was the returning pitching ace from last year’s state Class AAA championship squad, bringing back a 7-2 record and a 2.60 ERA. And that isn’t even his day job. Three games out of four, Hamilton firmly anchors the Tiger outfield from his post in center, showing skills that have brought a string of pro scouts to see him play this season. He hadn’t disappointed, getting off to a . 380 start at the plate with two homers and eight RBI.
But for the next couple of weeks, all they’ll get to see is Hamilton’s sixth tool — leadership. He suffered a mild back strain in a game with Munford on March 20 and has had to sit out a couple of games. “We’ll ease him back and rely on other guys to step up. For us this year it’s a question of the arms we have and staying healthy.”
Ring said that Hamilton, who has already signed with Austin Peay, has continued to shine.
“It would be very easy just to kind of be there if you’re a player at that level and get hurt,” Ring said. “But Chase has been very vocal, talking up and rallying up his teammates. He’s showing the leadership part of his makeup right now.”
For his part, Hamilton said “all I can do right now is try to help my team, to encourage them to keep fighting, and let the pitchers know what I’m seeing (from the bench).”
The hiatus might even offer a bit of perspective that Hamilton was already getting after a couple of subpar early games in front of the pro crowd.
“It was exciting, not uncomfortable (with the scouts around), but I think those first two games I tried to do too much,” he said. “You need to just go out there and do what you know how to do.”
Which, Ring says, is just about everything.
“He has speed, power (he hit 13 doubles to go with three homers last year), good arm, hits for average, good bat speed,” Ring said. “He’s got good size, and plays his position extremely well. He has a great feel for hard-hit balls. He can turn his back to the ball have know where it’s going to be when he turns to the ball again. It’s hard to teach that instinct.”
Hamilton, a BOP AllMetro and All-Region pick last season, had no errors in the field and hit .338 with 25 walks and only 17 strikeouts in 152 at-bats. Yet he said he knew he needed to get better.
“I had to work on arm strength, my reads in the outfield and hitting line drives and hard grounders to the opposite field when the situation calls for it,” he said.
Though he had great numbers on the mound, 39 strikeouts and 11 walks in 48 1/3 innings last year, Hamilton will readily tell you he’s an outfielder, who pitches every now and then.
“We threw him more than we expected last year because we lost a pitcher to Tommy John surgery,” Ring said. “He’s not overpowering by any means (throwing in the low-tomid 80s), but he battles and places well. Still, he is so much more important to us in center.”
Hamilton became one of three high-profile Shelby suburban signees for the Governors after playing in a tournament in Clarksville.
“I fell in love with the campus, and the coaches didn’t feed me any crap,” said Hamilton, who plans to major in criminal justice. “Would’ve loved to play SEC ball, but this will be a great place to spend the next four years.”
Ring adds, “everyone overlooks the fact that Austin Peay was a game away from the (NCAA) Super Regional round.”
If there’s one thing that’s become glaringly clear after the first couple of weeks of the high school baseball season, it’s this: You pitch to Jackson Hurdle and Wesley Johnson at your own peril.
Hurdle, Harding’s senior shortstop, and Johnson, a junior outfielderpitcher at Bartlett, have been swinging the biggest bats in the area, while helping their respective teams to stellar starts.
Hurdle, who will play at Northeast Mississippi CC, has five homers for the 13-0 Lions. Three have been grand slams, including one in last week’s 15-0 win over FACS. In a game that was shortened to four innings because of the mercy rule, Hurdle went 4 for 4 with a slam, a three-run shot and another RBI.
“I just focused on a lot of (batting) cage work and weight room work in the offseason,” said Hurdle. “It’s hard to be the power guy when you have (school record-holder) Parks Flowers on the team ... but I feel like everything is starting to come together.”
Johnson, meanwhile, has hit seven homers to help the Panthers to a 12-2 start. Much to his own surprise.
“I mean, I’m 6-1, 180, but I can only bench, like, 155,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how the ball keeps going out, but it does. And everyone on the team is just smashing the ball.”
But no one more so than Johnson.
“Jacob Elliott is really the best hitter on our team and I made a bet with him at the start of the season,” he said. “He would pay me $5 for every (solo) homer and $10 for every two-run homer.
“But after I hit my second two-run homer, he just stopped. I think he owes
me about $30.”
GOALIE’S GOAL LIFTS DRAGONS
Rarely has a tie felt more like a victory than when Collierville’s soccer team pulled out a 1-1 draw with MUS last Thursday. And the result came courtesy of a spectacular goal from an unlikely source.
Junior goalkeeper Brady Thornbury gave the Dragons the tie, connecting on a free kick from just inside his own half in stoppage time. The stunning strike delighted the Collierville fans at the game.
“I’ve never seen a finish like that,” said Dragons coach Drew Hensarling. “That’s a first. Brady just hit it on a rope. ... As soon as he hit it, I said ‘it’s going in.’ ”
Goalkeepers who score are not rare; for example, Brazilian Rogerio Ceni scored 109 times from penalties and free kicks during his career. But keepers who can laser in 45-yard stoppage-time equalizers are few and far between.
Thornbury said he just seized the moment.
“I think their keeper thought I was just going to loop it up (for someone else),” he said. “He was kind of cheating off his line a little bit ... I just struck it like a sweet golf shot. I guess I just have a strong leg.”
“Afterwards, it was kind of a blur, but I don’t love the spotlight. I was just trying to do something for the good of the team.”