Following successful runs at Southwest over the past two seasons, four additional Bear Baseball players recently signed on to continue their academics and athletics on the four-year level.
Jackson Hawsey and Gage Hinnant will play at William Carey while Peyton Purdue heads to Montgomery, Alabama to suit up for Faulkner University and Cody Presley moves north to Blue Mountain. They join Jake Meilstrup and Trace Roy (Blue Mountain), Brodey Walker (West Alabama), Dawson Richard (Nicholls State) and Darius Dampier (Jackson State) who all previously signed not long before the latest group.
Presley heads north to re-connect with Meilstrup and Roy. He will suit up for the Toppers after coming off of a very-productive sophomore campaign for the Bears hitting .299 with a team-high 12 doubles and was tied for the team lead in RBIs with 30.
Hinnant, another one of the key pieces to the Bear offense this past season hopes to continue his success for the Crusaders. The move also puts Hinnant closer to his hometown of Petal.
"It's awesome, I am 20 minutes from my house and anytime I need to go home, I'm right there so it was perfect," he said. "I was excited about that, it was a big factor."
When called upon, Hinnant shined on the mound but for the majority of the time, he was a key contributor in the lineup and playing in the outfield, mostly in right. When he gets to Hattiesburg, Hinnant said he's anticipating more of the same.
"I'll be doing the same thing that I did at Southwest, I'll pitch when needed and still play the outfield," he said. "I like both sides of it so I plan to do both."
Hawsey, who also made a big impact on the mound when called upon, will join Hinnant at William Carey. He said that being around a familiar face will help make the whole process on the next level easier.
"We are going to be roomates again, we have been rooming together over the last two years so it'll definitely make it easier," he said.
Hawsey pitched mostly out of the bullpen for the Bears last season. He made 18 appearances with two starts finishing with a 4.86 ERA. He had a 2-1 record with a save, 29 strikeouts and 30 hits allowed.
He adds that he chose to sign with William Carey over offers from other schools including Lenoir-Rhyne in North Carolina and Faulkner. In addition to continuing to play with Hinnant, another factor that played a role in Hawsey's decision was the closer proximity to his home in Lafayette, LA.
Perdue was another pitcher who was a reliable arm out of the bullpen, appearing in 20 contests and finishing with a 4.37 ERA with 23 strikeouts and 13 hits allowed.
He said that two years ago, Southwest was his only offer and he is thankful for his time in Summit because it helped him garner multiple offers when it came time to find his next stop.
"I came to Southwest to get better and keep playing baseball," Perdue said. "I went to Southwest with one offer and leave with multiple offers and get an actual choice of where I wanted to go."
Perdue chose Faulkner over offers from Mobile and John Melvin, among others. He adds that the main reason he chose to sign with the Eagles was the coaching staff.
"They are super down-to-earth," he said. "They said that we are going to have fun be we are going to work at the same time. That is what I want to hear."
Southwest head coach Jack Edmonson said that he feels another strong sense of pride watching another group of his kids sign with four-year programs.
"I'm just really proud of them again, just like the first ones," he said. "Those guys, they worked really hard in their two years here and they bet on themselves and they bet on Southwest to help them get to where they wanted to go. I think that they all made really good decisions on where they are going to school."
