HugSonnyHey

Baseball Fallbrook to Hastings

Sonny Hughey, baseball

Baseball has been a huge part of Sonny’s life since he was five: a Fallbrook High infielder, three seasons at shortstop for the Hastings College Broncos, and a fan, critic and writer ever since.

No. 01

Fallbrook High

Sonny grew up in Fallbrook, the northernmost suburb of San Diego County, and played infield for the Fallbrook High Warriors. As a senior in 2008 he stole 22 bases, the Fallbrook High single-season record, and earned an Avocado League honorable mention.

Weeks before graduation, Hastings College in Nebraska offered him a baseball scholarship, on top of an academic one. He changed his plans and went.

No. 02

Hastings College Broncos

Three seasons as the Broncos’ shortstop in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (NAIA), 2009 to 2011, while studying for a BA in Physics.

In 2011, with Sonny as team captain, Hastings won the GPAC title and went on to the NAIA national tournament. He stole home for the go-ahead, game-winning run that clinched the championship, and started a team “Kangaroo Court” to keep the clubhouse close.

Sonny Hughey slides into home under the tag of the Doane pitcher
Beating the tag at home against Doane, April 2011. Photo: Vince Kuppig, Hastings Tribune

He hit .291 and reached base at a .436 clip that season, and was named a 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete.

Batting: NAIA official stats; 2011 from the Hastings College final team stats, with the NAIA’s higher RBI and walk counts. OBP and OPS worked out from each season’s line
SeasonGABRH2BRBIBBSBAVGOBPOPS
2009 Freshman29261491231.346.414.798
2010 Sophomore3594181328105.138.264.423
2011 Junior501412841418257.291.436.756
Disposable photo: Sonny’s #1 Baseball Fan 2012
Sonny’s #1 baseball fan, 2012

No. 03

After college

Back in San Diego he joined a Saturday men’s league. As vice president of events for the FUHS Baseball Alumni (2011–2016) he created the annual Fallbrook High alumni baseball game, bringing together players and coaches from 1984 to 2015, raised the money to run it, and helped open and maintain Duke Snider Field.

Back from South America, he drove from San Diego across the United States, visited more than twenty professional baseball clubs, and spent the summer of 2015 as an Advanced Metrics Scorer for Sports Info Solutions, the baseball analytics (sabermetrics) company, and then, from August to November 2015, worked in marketing and promotions for the River City Rascals, a Frontier League club near St. Louis: sponsor promotions, the team’s Instagram (followers tripled), the Lil Rascals Kids Club and Seniors Slugger Club, and the Frontier League Championship Series logo. Read how his passion for the game evolved.

He loves the game as a fan and a critic, and has written about it for RealGM Baseball: Why Trevor Hoffman Didn’t Make the Hall of Fame, written after the 2017 vote. Hoffman was elected the following year, in 2018.

The Field of Dreams baseball diamond and cornfield at sunrise
The Field of Dreams at sunrise, May 2015

Sources

  1. NAIA official stats, Hastings College 2009
  2. NAIA official stats, Hastings College 2010
  3. NAIA official stats, Hastings College 2011
  4. Hastings College Baseball 2011, final team stats sheet (Hughey: 50 G, 48 GS, .291 AVG, .433 OBP)
  5. Box score, Hastings at Concordia, 1 May 2010 (Hughey, ss)
  6. Box score, Concordia vs Hastings, 28 April 2011 (Hughey, ss)
  7. Rogers State: NAIA Opening Round bracket, Lubbock, May 2011
  8. Salina Post: Kansas Wesleyan at the 2011 Lubbock Opening Round
  9. BR Bullpen: Great Plains Athletic Conference champions
  10. Fallbrook High School baseball record book: stolen bases, single season (Sonny Hughey, 22, 2008)
  11. Hastings Tribune, 2 May 2011: photo by Vince Kuppig, Hughey scores the go-ahead run against Doane
  12. Hastings Tribune, May 2011: GPAC tournament report, Hastings 5, Mount Marty 4
  13. San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 July 2008: Area student receives Hastings scholarship
  14. San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2011: Alumni Report (Hughey, Hastings shortstop)
  15. San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 June 2011: Alumni Report, Success on Great Plains
  16. Village News, 16 June 2011: Hughey named NAIA baseball Scholar-Athlete
  17. Village News, 31 July 2008: Warrior baseball players earn Avocado League honors
  18. Village News, 21 July 2011: Alumni baseball game a real hit
  19. Village News, 17 September 2015: Even-year alumni win annual baseball game
  20. Sonny Hughey on LinkedIn: Shortstop and Captain, Hastings College Baseball; Marketing and Promotions, River City Rascals (Aug-Nov 2015)
  21. Sonny Hughey on LinkedIn, Volunteering: Advanced Metrics Scorer, Sports Info Solutions (Jun-Sep 2015); VP Events, FUHS Baseball Alumni (2011-2016)
  22. RealGM Baseball, January 2017: Why Trevor Hoffman Didn't Make the Hall of Fame (he was elected in 2018)