Hoover to join Waveriders baseball team
DAILY FORUM FILE PHOTO
Maryville’s Trey Hoover gets congratulated by teammates Tomas Coalson (20), and Alex Bean (6) after hitting a three-run home run that gave the Spoofhounds a 7-3 lead against Savannah this past season.
Recent Connors State College baseball signee and former Maryville Spoofhound baseball player Trey Hoover will be playing in the Carolina Shores League this summer after agreeing to play with the Cherry Grove Beach Waveriders.
Hoover said he is going to use this season to prepare for what lies ahead.
“I’m hoping to get to play the infield some so I can become more of a utility player,” he said. “I mostly just played catcher in high school, so getting to play more positions will be cool. I’m also going to continue to work on my hitting.”
Hoover played catcher and pitched out of the bullpen for the Spoofhounds while batting in the middle of the lineup. He was recently named to the Daily Forum Male All-Spring Sports first team after batting .515 his senior season. He also hit four home runs, and five doubles while driving in 25 runs.
Former Maryville coach Monica Woods, who stepped down after this season, said Hoover has a chance of being successful in South Carolina.
“He is a top-notch player and he definitely improved his game over the last year and got himself set up to be successful as a college player and he will be going onto college in the fall to play baseball and this will help him continue to jump up levels here and be able to play better and better in the fall,” she said.
Hoover, who only heard of the league and the team in passing, is excited for the opportunity for a chance to get better.
“This is going to be a good experience,” he said. “It’s almost going to be like what college ball will be like before actually playing college ball. It’s going to be good for me to play in this league.”
Maryville’s Jarret Cronin is playing for the Myrtle Beach HammerHeads, which is also in the Carolina Shores League. Cherry Grove opens play on Thursday against Little River and will take on Cronin’s HammerHeads on Friday.
Thomas Johnston from Haslett, Missouri, Aaron Easley from Kansas City, and Matt Gastner from Kansas City, are the only other Missouri natives in the league.
Easley and Gastner both played for Northwest Missouri State University.
Hoover is listed as a Connors State player, a junior college he will attend in the fall. He signed with the Warner, Oklahoma-school earlier this year but didn’t hold a ceremony at MHS.
Instead, he signed at his previous summer club, Building Champions Baseball Academy in Overland Park, Kansas.
Hoover played on the 18U White team for Building Champions. The program has had 11 players sign to play college ball this year.
Hoover will be joining a tradition-rich program at Connors State. The Cowboys went 42-18 this past season and have sent 11 players to Major League Baseball, including former Royals catcher George Kottaras.
“I liked the campus and the atmosphere down there. Baseball there is a big deal, it’s like football in Maryville,” Hoover said. “That was a big part of me wanting to go there.”
