HT baseball coach on being ranked: ‘To me, that’s where this program is supposed to be’

By Gary Lloyd

The Hewitt-Trussville baseball team made an appearance in last week’s Alabama Sports Writers Association rankings as the No. 8 team in Class 6A.

It may be the first time ever Hewitt-Trussville has been ranked.

Online records show Hewitt-Trussville has not been ranked between 2007 and 2012. Prior to that, archived records are unavailable, according to two ASWA members.

Hewitt-Trussville won a school-record 27 games last season under former head coach Jason Estabrook and never broke the top 10.

First-year head coach Jeff Mauldin said he thinks it could be the first time in the school’s history that the baseball team has been ranked in the top 10.

“To me, that’s where this program is supposed to be,” he said. “We are supposed to be in that elite group of programs. That’s where we’re going to be. We’re going to find a way every year to be consistently one of the programs (that has a chance to win the state championship).”

Hewitt-Trussville is currently 15-4. Its 10-game winning streak ended Monday afternoon after an 11-1 loss to Chiles High School in Florida. The Huskies play at Chiles and Lincoln high schools in Florida this week for a spring break tournament.

Mauldin said he told the team he is proud of its ranking.

“Hewitt-Trussville needs to be in that conversation every year,” he said.

Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.