A greater population also means more schools with more potential recruits. Rives:
“We recruit usually within a 2hr radius. Within that radius there are several very
good high school baseball programs so the pool of potential players is large
compared to other areas of the state. Also with the 2hr radius, players still have the
opportunity to go home on a weekend and see a high school football game, go
hunting or fishing, etc. We are centrally located. It’s a good place to go to college.”
Recruiting Challenges
There are 24 colleges in Mississippi that have baseball programs (14 NJCAA, 6 NCAA
DI, 3 NCAA DIII and 1 NCAA DII). In a state that ranks 31 st in population that’s a
lot of competition for recruits. The fact that most high school senior baseball
player’s start their college search thinking of only playing NCAA DI baseball also
challenges Hinds. Lastly, NJCAA teams are susceptible to the four year schools
looking for players who have experience and “recruiting them” away. Especially
when they lose a player at the last minute and have to fill an important roster spot.
Hinds is no different. Rives: “In NCAA DI the draft is a big challenge for them.
Which in turn filters down to us. Sometimes they lose players at the last moment,
and they have to go into scramble mode. Then they have to go after a guy we had
signed or someone already on our roster. We had a situation last year where an SEC
school picked up one of our
players. They lost a player to
the MLB draft and they were
looking for another infielder
and they picked our guy. It
was great for him getting
picked up after only one year
here, but hurt us because we
were looking forward to have
him back but again, it was a
great opportunity for him to
be able to leave after one
year. It’s not something we
always face but it is a
challenge.”
Rives continued, “In June and July almost every young man has aspirations to go to
LSU, Mississippi State or Alabama. We know they are good players – very good and
talented but they’re not quite there yet. Most coaches can see that but the player
can’t. Almost every player is convinced they are division one baseball player – it’s
good that they have goals and aspirations. The biggest thing we can do is to hang in
there with them. We stay in contact with them - phone/ emails/ face-to-face (when
allowed), just to let them know we are still there. We want to recruit them the right
way.”