The Observer, March 28, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 22
Baseball's Hurley makes early impact
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In his first game as a Spartan, Clay Hurley played the role of hero, sparking a late game comeback victory. During the play, Hurley hurdled over an opposing defender, knocking the player's teeth out in the process. Sounds like the play of a quarterback, right? Try again – Hurley is the baseball team's new starting centerfielder.
The former three-sport athlete didn't always have baseball as his first choice of sports to play in college. In fact, it wasn't even his second.
Coming out of high school, Hurley was an accomplished quarterback being courted by a handful of Division I and I-AA schools, plus a multitude of Division II schools. During his senior season, Hurley broke his Connellsville high school records for passing yards, passes completed, and the single season record for passing yards. The previous record holder was Johnny Lujack, the Heisman-winning quarterback who led Notre Dame to three national championships.
After accepting a scholarship to play football at Lehigh University, Hurley thought he had found his new home for the next four years. "I was set on going to Lehigh. Then, there was a coaching change," said Hurley.
Unfortunately, the new coaches were not as high on Hurley, and Lehigh was not an option anymore. He was faced with a new decision. None of the other schools interested in him for football were really a fit. As a result, he had to decide between his other two sports: basketball and baseball. Ultimately Hurley decided to play basketball for Grove City College.
Going into the season the team was very young and not expected to finish very well in the conference. Hurley, who played guard, saw extensive playing time as a freshman, mostly as a sixth or seventh man. Playing above expectations, Grove City went into the PAC tournament and upset Washington and Jefferson in the championship game. While they did not make it to the NCAA tournament, the team played in the ECAC tournament. "It is sort of like the NIT for Div. III," said Hurley.
Even after a great season, Hurley didn't feel at home at Grove City. He began to look at possible transfer schools and eventually contacted Case's head baseball coach Matt Englander. "I just didn't feel like I was in college at Grove City," Hurley said. "I had already won a conference championship in basketball, so I thought I'd try out baseball." With his grandfather a former pitcher for the Indians, he definitely had the bloodlines.
Englander responded with interest and Hurley made the jump in sports and schools. "All those 6:30 a.m. winter practices paid off in the first game," said Hurley. "We came out and beat Emory, which had been our thing all winter long. Beat Emory." Then the team dropped two games to LaGrange and lost five of six in the UAA tournament. However, Hurley is confident that those losses don't reflect the character of his new teammates. "I don't know what our problem was down in Florida," said Hurley. "But that is not our team. We are going to win games." With four games in this week alone, the Spartans should be well rested and ready to go again. And hopefully, Hurley won't be tackling anyone.
