Mt. Hermon’s Devin Smith has signed a letter of intent to attend William Carey University and to play baseball for the Crusaders.
“It was a pretty easy decision once I went and visited the campus,” Smith said. “I loved everything about the campus. The coaching staff was great. I met some of the players and they were all real nice. The field is immaculate. I loved everything about the school.”
Smith, who graduated from Mt. Hermon in May, said he’s excited about this decision.
“Not everyone gets the opportunity to go to the next level and play, so just being able to play college ball is a huge opportunity for me,” Smith said.
Smith was part of Mt. Hermon’s first-year varsity baseball team this season. The team struggled but was playing in a tough five-team district.
Three teams from District 8-2A reached the playoffs, including Pine, Archbishop Hannan and Northlake Christian School.
Pine and Hannan suffered losses in the opening round of the postseason as the 25th- and 14th-seeded teams, respectively. Pine lost to eighth-seeded Sterlington, 9-4. Sterlington reached the quarterfinals before falling to top-seeded Doyle, 3-1.
Hannan lost to No. 19 Redemptorist, 6-3. Redemptorist was eliminated from the playoffs the following game by third-seeded and eventual state runner-up Oak Grove.
Northlake Christian, the sixth-seeded team reached the quarterfinals before losing to Oak Grove, 13-3.
Smith played infield and pitched for Mt. Hermon. This season, he earned first-team all-district honors for the 8-2A league as an infielder. Yellow Jackets coach Matt Sessions said Smith topped the voting among infielders in the district.
This summer, Smith played travel ball for the Louisiana All-Stars under coach Chris Counts.
Smith had a 4.0 grade point average.
He said academics are definitely important.
“Baseball’s not going to last forever, but your education will always be there, so you have to have something to fall back on,” Smith said.
William Carey is led by coach Bobby Halford, who has a 1,022-641 (.616 winning percentage) career record over 30 seasons. Last season the Crusaders posted a 30-23 record.
William Carey’s season ended in the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament with a 13-2 loss to Faulkner State University.
Smith will major in pre-law. He wants to be a sports lawyer.
Smith is the son of Moby and Monica Smith.