Mix of seniors, underclassmen lead Hough baseball to another league title

Last year, Hough High’s baseball team claimed a share of the MECKA 4A regular-season title and the league’s tournament championship.

This season, the Huskies are back in familiar territory – and eyeing a bigger prize.

Heading into its regular-season finale against Vance on May 1, Hough (17-6, 12-1) has already clinched its second straight conference regular-season title, giving the Huskies the top seed in the MECKA 4A tournament.

“We knew that guys were going to have to try and catch up fast,” Huskies coach Jimmy Cochran said. “We have a lot of good, young players. It was just a matter of getting them caught up to the speed of the game on the varsity level, trying to get them acclimated as quickly as we could.

“We knew if we could expedite that process, we’d have a chance to be successful again. Our younger kids, our more inexperienced kids, have put in the time and effort they needed to expedite that process, and get us to where we are now.”

While this year’s Hough roster has nine seniors, only five have prominent roles. Drew Ober and Brett Shapcott are starting outfielders, Jordan Wilkins starts at third base, Luke Maye (a North Carolina recruit in basketball) starts at first base, and Trent Joiner is the Huskies’ ace pitcher.

The rest of Hough’s starting lineup has been filled by underclassmen: juniors Blake Matthews at second base, Brooks Carroll at shortstop and Cole Parks at catcher; and sophomore Cole Maye (Luke Maye’s younger brother) in the outfield.

“Last year, there were a lot of expectations, and we had to have some guys step up,” Shapcott said. “The same thing’s kind of happened this year. The undergrads are really playing well.”

Said Joiner: “Our younger guys, especially the ones playing in the middle infield, have really stepped up a lot. Our pitchers have also stepped up, and Cole Maye has been playing really well.”

Underclassmen have also filled prominent roles on the Huskies’ pitching staff. Sophomore Nicholas Swiney is the No. 2 starter and closer, while junior Edward Warren has become a reliable middle reliever and setup guy.

“This has probably been the best defensive team we’ve ever had here,” Cochran said. “And we’ve got a chance to produce a quality at bat, but the pressure sometimes gets to the guys. But we’re working on that daily to calm them down in situations like that.”

What that has produced is probably the best team Cochran has had at Hough since the 2012 season, when a senior-laden roster took the Huskies to the NCHSAA 4A state championship series.

That team finished the year ranked ninth in the state among 4A teams in national high school athletics website MaxPreps.com’s computer rankings.

This year’s team is ranked 17th, Hough’s best showing in the MaxPreps.com state rankings since 2012.

“I thought it was going to be difficult,” to repeat as conference champs, Cochran said. “Our goal coming in was to win this thing, and we had a legitimate shot to do that. Even though we’ve got some inexperienced guys, some young guys, they’re all talented and have the ability to be successful.

“It was on us as coaches to put them in positions to where they could be successful. We spent a lot of time in the fall and winter trying to speed that up. The kids have worked hard, and here we are.

“Talent-wise, do we stack up? Yeah, I think so. The experience level, getting the kids used to playing playoff baseball, would be the difference. But if we can get those clutch hits like we did back then, we’ve got a chance to make another run.”

This story was originally published May 1, 2015 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Mix of seniors, underclassmen lead Hough baseball to another league title."