Newton County will be sending another baseball player to East Central Community College.
Hayze West will be joining his older brother Hayden in Decatur along with teammate David Burton.
Former Newton County baseball coach Wyatt Tullos said he is excited to see another player make it to the next level.
“I’m excited for him,” Tullos said. “He has worked his tail off and I’m proud that he has that opportunity. He has had that desire to play at the next level and I’m proud that opportunity presented itself. He had a really good year and I’m really proud of him. He tore the cover off the baseball the entire year. Down the stretch, he got really hot on the mound and got several big division wins for us.”
On the mound, West got better as the season went on. West finished with an 8-3 record had a 2.77 ERA in 55 2/3 innings while striking out 78.
“He played well when the chips were down for us,” Tullos said. “He came back and had a lot of two out hits and it’s about driving runners in with two outs. A lot of times the college coaches look at potential but they also look at performance and he performed well under pressure. From division play to the playoffs, he was our three-hole hitter and was dangerous. He saw a lot of breaking balls and might see three fastballs in a series. He didn’t see a lot of good pitches but was still able to be produce and that’s a testament to his ability to hit.”
At the plate, West hit .402 with three home runs, 13 doubles and 30 RBIs while primarily playing shortstop. Tullos said he doesn’t know what his ultimate position may be at East Central.
“I think he’s going to do a little bit of everything,” Tullos said. “They may try him at catcher. He played a good infield for us and can play any position there. He may be a third baseman in college. He has plenty of arm strength to make that throw. He has a lot of thunder in that stick and can really hit it. He had 17 extra base hits in 29 games and 30 RBIs. That’s swinging it pretty good. He is strong in his legs and has good hands. He has serious long-ball power at the next level. If you are going to hit, you want to hit doubles, RBIs and bombs and he had a lot o those.”
