Lake Norman Publications

High school baseball set after ‘eternity’ of an offseason



Hopewell head coach Shawn McGeorge throws batting practice to his team April 25. The Titans’ first game is Tuesday, April 27. /Doug Coats

HUNTERSVILLE – The improvement in weather wasn’t worth it for Shawn McGeorge to brave the extra month-and-a-half waiting for the baseball season to begin.

Tryouts typically start for the Hopewell baseball coach in mid-February, when the weather in the North Carolina piedmont is often at its worst – just ask football coaches about their experience practicing in that stretch. In this pandemic-influenced sports calendar, the crack of the bat and pop of the gloves didn’t begin until April 1.

“Each day felt like an eternity,” said McGeorge, in his second season with the Titans. “You got that clock of Valentine’s Day, and every day from that point onto April 1 seemed like an eternity. It’s that eternal clock of, we should be gearing up for the field, doing workouts. That just made it harder. I’m not complaining about the weather, though. We get in that routine starting around mid-February. Once that time hit, (it) felt like the wait was longer and longer.”

McGeorge’s first team on Beatties Ford Road was a good one to start out with. Hopewell had eight seniors, including pitcher Tanner Gresham, who’s now at West Point. That team was 5-0, and scored 26 runs combined in their last two games before the season was shut down because of COVID-19.

At Mountain Island Charter last spring, the Raptors opened up their brand-new turf field, only to play one home game. And it was a loss.

McGeorge believes the leadership from his Hopewell team, despite the brevity of the season, has been passed down to this year’s younger roster with three freshmen and three sophomores.

“They’re talented, they’re not there to be space fillers,” he said. “They earned the spot. It’s definitely a different team. Last year was a great group of guys to start out with. The senior leadership embraced what I was trying to build. We’re just building on it this year. It’s been huge for these young guys getting into the culture of the program and seeing what we’re doing.”

In the conference-only schedule, Hopewell begins with conference power Hough Tuesday, April 27. That starts a season in which senior outfielder Stanley Reed and junior shortstop Seth Christmas will get their time to shine for more than just a few weeks. For McGeorge, just taking the field against another school is a great accomplishment. 

“There’s no buildup,” he said. “We wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re working each day to get to that. We’re looking forward to that challenge. We’ve got to make it a normal season. We gotta do everything we would in a normal situation to prepare for it. If last year showed us anything, you can’t take it for granted. You’ve got to some out here, enjoy your time, appreciate your time out here. It can be taken in an instant for whatever reason.”

Hopewell players run the batting cages after a taking a round of BP on the field. /Doug Coats

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