Former Caldwell County baseball standout Tate VanHooser is headed to Motlow State to continue his college career.
VanHooser played his freshman season at Rend Lake College, but announced following the campaign that he would be seeking a new junior college at which to play his second collegiate season.
VanHooser’s head coach at Rend Lake, Walker Bullington, left that post in May to become head coach at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala.
VanHooser, who said he wanted to play one more year of junior college baseball, noted that he “really likes the coaches” at Motlow and that “two other guys from Rend Lake are going with me.
“It’s one of the best JUCO conferences in the country, exposure-wise and talent-wise.”
Motlow State plays in the same conference as perennial power Walters State Community College, which went 60-7 this spring and reached the championship semifinals of the 2022 NJCAA D-I Baseball World Series.
VanHooser hit .254 this year at Rend Lake with three home runs and 20 runs batted in in 42 games. He batted .306 in conference games with two homers and 16 RBIs.
VanHooser is playing this month in the Myrtle Beach League in South Carolina as a member of the Carolina Loggerheads.
He is Caldwell County’s all-time home run leader with 15.
He also owns the single-season home run record with the Tigers, hitting 10 as a sophomore in the 2019 season.
Motlow State went 31-22 this past season, including a 12-14 mark in conference play. The Bucks were 20-5 at home.
Motlow is located in Tullahoma, in southern middle Tennessee.
Caldwell County has had at least one other athlete play at Motlow State. Former Lady Tiger basketball standout Jayme Jackson was a guard at Motlow from 2010-12.
