HOOVER, Ala. – Welcome to Our House.
That was the message the Hoover Buccaneers subtly sent out to the other 35 teams taking part in this week’s Perfect Game High School Showdown where the vast majority of the games will be played at the Hoover Met Sports Complex.
The complex, which features a 10,800 seat stadium, four all-turf back fields and one grass backfield, is literally just over the hill from Hoover High School. It is hosting the PG HS Showdown for a second straight year, and that suits the Bucs just fine.
“The neat thing is to see all this talent in one place and we’re just lucky that we get to be around it – my guys get to drive three minutes to be at the field – and we are excited about it,” Buccaneers’ head coach Adam Moseley told PG on Thursday, the first day of the Showdown’s three-day run.
“I like seeing all the Alabama teams that are here and seeing them all have success. … High school baseball in Alabama has been good for a long time, and I hope this brings people to realize that besides just the Southeast, there’s good baseball in Alabama.”
There are four Alabama schools included in the PG HS Top 50 National Rankings and all of them are here: No. 8 Bob Jones, No. 25 Russell County, No. 32 Hoover and No. 44 Smiths Station.
Moseley, who was the East Team head coach at last year’s PG All-American Classic in San Diego, wouldn’t go so far as to say the recognition is overdue, choosing instead to say that it’s kind of Alabama’s time and things like this go in cycles.
He feels like there’s really good coaches in the state these days, men who are all baseball-first guys who aren’t just dabbling in the sport. Every game, he said, you better be good or you’re going to get beat.
And that’s the same scenario that awaits the Bucs this weekend. If they don’t play at their best, they won’t be playing in Saturday’s Red Division championship game (there are also Blue and White divisions at the event) which is ultimately their goal.
“We’ve been waiting for this event this whole (season) with all the top competition in the nation,” top junior outfielder/first baseman Evan Radford said on Thursday. “Our team has been really hyped up to get this tournament and compete with all the other good teams out there. We host it here, so that’s a big target on us.”
It is no stretch of the imagination to reach the conclusion that Hoover senior Robby Ashford is the top all-around athlete at this event, and that’s saying something. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound centerfielder is the cleanup hitter in the Bucs’ lineup who PG ranks as the No. 133 overall prospect in the class of 2020.
Ashford is also a four-star quarterback prospect who has signed with Oregon and has his sights set on playing both baseball and football for the Ducks beginning next fall. He had originally committed to Ole Miss but reopened his recruiting in December after the Rebels made a change with the football coaching staff.
“Me and my parents sat down and we weighed all my options,” Ashford said about making Oregon his new school of choice. “We went on a visit and we loved it, and it was just the best fit for me.”
This Bucs’ roster is relatively deep with a nice blend of seniors, juniors and sophomores, and even a few freshman that are ready to contribute. In Thursday’s Showdown opener – a 3-0 victory over Pike County HS (Ga.) played in the Hoover Met quad – Moseley started six seniors in Ashford, Colson Lawrence, Cooper Prince, Davis Young, Lawrence Hammonds and Colby Davis.
Junior TY Truett started at shortstop and junior right-hander Austin Cornelius was the starting pitcher; sophomore William Steele was behind the plate.
Cornelius was outstanding, by the way, scattering six hits during his complete-game shutout while striking out 10 and walking three. The Bucs managed only three hits in the win with Steele contributing a two-run double and Ashford and Lawrence collecting singles.
“What’s really neat just from my team is that I’ve got a really good senior class that really leads,” Moseley said. “You’ll see when they walk in here that they do things right and we can trust them and they’re fun to be around. It’s fun to go to my baseball field every day just to be around these kids.”
Radford didn’t play Thursday but he’s a good one – the Southern Miss commit is ranked No. 308 overall in the class of 2021. Hammonds is a top-500 2021 prospect who has committed to Snead State CC, the same Boaz, Ala., school senior outfielder Kole Roberts has signed with. Davis has signed with Marion (Ala.) Military Institute and Lawrence with Wallace State CC in Hanceville, Ala.
Freshman middle-infielder RJ Hamilton is the No. 203-ranked overall prospect in the class of 2023, and he’s not even the highest ranked freshman on the roster. Shortstop/right-hander Walter Ford, an Alabama commit ranked No. 15 overall in the class of 2023, recently transferred into Hoover.
“We’re a really good group,” Radford said. “We’ve got a lot of young kids, we’ve got a lot of seniors who play, we’ve got freshmen who play. We’re really young, but we’ve got some good talent all through the lineup.”
Ashford agreed with Radford’s assessment of the team’s chemistry and cohesiveness, calling the group “a bunch of tight-knit brothers.” It’s a collection of high-end ballplayers who get along great with one another which makes it easy to play for each other instead of just themselves.
“It shows that we’re different from a lot of other schools and a lot of other teams, which helps us a lot when it comes to a big-time situation,” he said. “Not just playing for yourself but playing for one another and playing for that guy behind you.”
Moseley said the only thing he asks of his players at an event like the PG HS Showdown is that they come in and compete. The entire Hoover HS community is all about competing at the highest level possible, an expectation that starts with the parents. They want to see their kids put in a position where they will be challenged, and that is certainly what will take place here over the next three days.
The event is absolutely loaded with not only highly ranked teams but highly ranked, elite prospects from across the Southeast. The Bucs won’t take a backseat to anyone.
“You look around, there are so many good players here and we’re just glad to be able to see what our guys can do against them,” Moseley said. “It’s exciting for them. … Our guys will be done and they’ll just be floating back-and-forth between fields and they love it.”
Ashford said it’s really pretty simple: “We’re really just coming out to show everyone that we’re one of the best teams in the nation. We’re not going to back down from competition because we’re a bunch of guys who like to fight. We’re going to fight until it’s the top of the seventh or the bottom of the seventh and there’s three outs left.”
All of the Buccaneers play summer ball with top travel team programs, which leads to friendships with other elite players from states near and far. An event like the PG HS Showdown can turn into a reunion of sorts between long lost but certainly not forgotten buddies.
Ashford said it can be a lot of fun going up against them once again, this time while playing for their high school teams. And he really enjoys slipping on that jersey with “Buccaneers” printed across the front and playing for his school.
“You’re just going out there and playing for your city,” he said. “Living here, there’s a winning tradition no matter what sport it is and we try to come out and represent Hoover to the best of our ability. Hopefully, every time we can come out with a win. If we don’t we go back to the drawing board and then come back ready for the next game.”
According to PG records, Moseley is about to reach a significant milestone, although he honestly could not care less. The win late Thursday afternoon pushed the Bucs to 7-2 on this season and was the 397th of Moseley’s career.
“I would have no idea about that,” he said, smiling and shaking his head. “It may be true, and if I am (about to reach 400) that means there would be 400 guys that bailed their head coach out of a bad decision, most likely.”
The Bucs had the opportunity to add to that win total with a second game late Thursday night and again when play at the PG HS Showdown continues into Friday and Saturday. They will, of course, always compete at the highest level possible while defending their home turf. Welcome to Our House.
“(Moseley is) telling us that we’re seeing the top competition at (the Showdown) and we need to do our best and play at our best,” Radford said. “We need to play at the level that we’re supposed to be at.”
Play at the PG High School Showdown-Academies event begins Friday and continues through Sunday.