Meaghan Gardner, Staff Writer
Will Hodges was recently named the Peach Belt Conference’s freshman baseball player of the week. The19-year-old Business Economics major from Guyton, Georgia started his baseball career at Effingham County High School before he signed on to play at Armstrong – the place he now calls his home.
“I chose Armstrong because for me, it was close to home,” he said. “I wanted my parents to be able to come see me play. It just felt like home to me.”
Hodges is the second consecutive Pirate to receive the PBC’s honor after Tanner Hall achieved the title the week before. But instead of attributing the title to himself, his humility shined in the way he credited his team.
“I’m really blessed and thankful that I’ve been honored for [this achievement] but really if it wasn’t for my teammates, it wouldn’t have happened,” Hodges said. “I hit two grand slams and if I wouldn’t have had three other people on base, that just wouldn’t have happened.”
His team is not the only thing he claims are detrimental to his success as an outstanding baseball player. He also credits time and practice as the keys to performing well. He says that his favorite thing about the sport is the strategies that go into the game itself.
Hodges’ future in Savannah is uncertain due to the Armstrong/Georgia Southern merge. He said, “From what we’ve been hearing with the merger there’s not going to be any athletics here next year. For a lot of people, it bothers them…they have no idea where they’ll be next year.”
The merge may be allegedly taking away Armstrong’s athletics department, but it is not taking away the hope Will Hodges has for his own future: “I wanted to start off all four years here but then again, everything happens for a reason.”
Hodges may not know where he sees himself in five years, but he knows he always wants to be playing baseball and his personal faith gives him the motivation to believe that he will.
“I actually have no idea where I’ll be [in five years]. I’m 19 years old. I have an idea of where I want to see myself…I’d like to play baseball. God will take me wherever he needs me to be.”