By Joshua Huff, sports editor
CALERA — The Hewitt-Trussville baseball’s quest for its third consecutive 30-win season begun on Saturday with the Huskies blanking Calera, 11-0, thanks to a dominant pitching performance from junior Skylar Jones and a balanced offensive attack.
Jones pitched five scoreless innings. He struck out six in the victory.
Offensively, the Huskies were led by senior Tyler Mauldin, who fell just shy of starting his final high school campaign hitting for the cycle. The 2019 All-State First Team honoree recorded a single, double and triple in just five innings. He drove in three runs on the day. Mauldin entered this year following a junior season in which he recorded a .301 batting average, scored 32 runs with nine doubles and had 14 stolen bases. Mauldin led the team with 44 hits, three triples, two homeruns, 34 RBIs and hit .397 with runners in scoring position.
The Huskies were not a one-man show, however. Keith Lanum and Michael Fowler both scored two runs; Trey Burrell, Hudson Boren and Gavin Ellison all notched doubles, and Jackson Holland recorded two hits in the victory.
Hewitt-Trussville enters this spring following a 31-7 season that ended with a 0-2 loss in the semifinals of the Class 7A state tournament to Bob Jones.