Christian County senior Andrew Mayes has signed to continue his baseball career at Rend Lake College, choosing the Illinois junior college for both its academic opportunities and competitive baseball program.
Mayes was strong on the mound for Hopkinsville High School, usually drawing the assignment of pitching against the top teams on the Tiger schedule. He was 3-6 last year with a 1.80 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 58 innings.
As a sophomore, Mayes was 7-3 and picked up the win over Estill County in the first round of the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament. He struck out seven and allowed just two runs in five innings. He posted a 1.81 ERA that season with 65 strikeouts.
Mayes transferred to Christian County in the offseason as the school prepares to consolidate academics and athletics into one high school later this year.
Christian County head coach Cole Isom said Mayes’ leadership and work ethic have stood out to him in the short time he has coached him.
“He’s smart. He is reliable. He is hardworking. He is everything that you want a leader to be. And he doesn’t just speak about being a leader, he does it by example. He’s usually the last one to leave every night,” Isom said.
Isom added that Mayes’ approach to improvement has made him a model teammate.
“I think every player has a decision about how hard they work, how much they want to listen, how coachable they are. And I know myself and all of his coaches would say the same thing, that he is outworked by none.”
For Mayes, the decision to attend Rend Lake came down to finding the right balance between academics and athletics.
“I was looking for a school that was both good academically and athletically, and I found multiple schools that were very good academically, but athletics was not where I wanted it. I think Rend Lake is a great place for me, and it envisioned the atmosphere that I want to be in,” Mayes said.
The Rend Lake Warriors compete in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference and are part of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 24. The Warriors have developed a reputation as a competitive junior college program that regularly sends players to four-year universities at the NCAA and NAIA levels.
Mayes also pointed to past Hoptown players Tim Cansler, Jacob Dilday, and Gavin Powell, who have excelled at Rend Lake.
