‘We’re trying to build culture.’ How West Meck baseball is trying to get back on the map
When Ramon Allen Sr. became West Mecklenburg’s baseball coach 10 years ago, he knew the Hawks had a strong tradition.
He also knew it was a distant memory for all of his players, none of whom were born the last time West Mecklenburg had won a league championship.
This season, all of that is changing.
After defeating visiting West Charlotte 14-0 in five innings by the “mercy rule” on Tuesday night, the Hawks are off to their best start at 7-0.
They also are 3-0 in the Queen City 3A/4A Conference that is regarded as one of the best in the state.
Allen’s message resonates with his players.
“We’re trying to put West Meck back on the map,” junior shortstop and team captain Anthony Echevarria said. “We’re trying to make history.
“Since Day One, we’ve been working hard and putting in a lot of work. And I’m very proud of how hard we’ve worked and confident we can go far this season.”
A year ago, the Hawks made their first state playoff appearance in 11 seasons with an 8-14-1 overall record.
How impressive was the season?
Rival Queen City Conference coaches voted Allen the league’s coach of the year.
“It was a surprise but I appreciate it,” Allen said. “A lot of times, the work that gets done at this school goes unnoticed. So to have those guys recognize that we’re doing some good things here at West Meck made me proud of what our staff is doing here.”
Prior to the 11-year postseason drought that was ended last season, West Mecklenburg’s program was on par with any team in the region and one of the best in the state. The Hawks had advanced to the state finals six times and to the Western regional finals four other times.
It also had produced two major leaguers in 1964 graduate Tommy Helms and 2004 graduate Chad Tracy.
Much of the success was led by a pair of Gaston County natives who guided the school to more than 500 victories from 1958-95 in Cramerton’s Carl “Cotton” Bolick (282-149 record from 1958-79) and Cherryville’s Vance Schrum (224-149 record from 1980-95).
That pair guided West Mecklenburg to 11 of the school’s 15 regular season titles. The last league title — a co-championship — came in 2011. And the school’s last playoff victory came in 1996 when the Hawks advanced to the Western N.C. 4A finals.
Allen remains confident he can bring such tradition back.
So far this season, offense has led the Hawks’ resurgence as six players are batting .400 or more — Emilio Garcia (.667), Echevarria (.619), Caden Clinard (.571), Jameel Tahir (.545), Randy Shipes (.524) and Allan German (.417).
“We’re trying to build a baseball culture here,” said Allen, who oversees the program’s varsity and junior varsity teams. “We don’t have the numbers that we would like as we have 13 on each team.
“But we make do with what we have and we go out there and compete. We’ve had our ups and our downs but these guys have been working hard since August and they’re still working hard.”