With focus on baseball, Tom Sox infielder Hart is flourishing – The Daily Progress

When the Tom Sox picked up College of Charleston second baseman Dupree Hart, team management knew they had a good infielder on their hands. They just didn’t know how good.

Hart has steadily proven that he has star qualities as a second baseman in the field, and now that he’s starting to swing the bat, the sky is the limit for the Rock Hill, South Carolina, native.

“We knew we were getting an advanced baseball player, but I didn’t know he was going to be as good defensively as he has been,” said Tom Sox manager Travis Thomas. “We knew he could move, but he has really impressed me.”

The ability to move quickly has always been an eye-popping feature of Hart’s athletic ability. After all, he was the state of South Carolina’s “Mr. Baseball,” and “Mr. Football,” his senior year at Northwestern High School.

In fact, Hart caught 21 passes — that’s not a typo — in the state championship game his senior year, that accounted for four touchdowns, although he believes a shovel pass that was tagged a running play, should have been accounted as another reception. He hauled in a South Carolina high school record 323 catches, and during his senior year compiled 3,169 yards total offense and 40 touchdowns.

Hart was so athletic, so skilled that he made powerhouse Northwestern’s varsity baseball team as a seventh grader, and the school’s varsity football team as a freshman, which left Coach Kyle Richardson (recently hired by Clemson) to say, “We don’t have freshmen play varsity football. Heck, we don’t have freshmen play JV football.”

Hart was never intimidated by the challenge or his size. He’s 5-foot-7, 170 pounds, and perhaps undersized and under-aged, he proved that the moment was never too big for his heart.

“We had a ‘C’ team in South Carolina, and I was playing baseball on our ‘C’ team, which was seventh and eighth graders,” Hart explained. “I had played 10 or 12 games and the varsity coach came up and asked how would I like to play varsity. He moved me up, and I became starting catcher in the playoffs.”

Football offered up a similar scenario with Northwestern’s football program, one of the Palmetto state’s best high school programs.

“I came home and told my mom that I was going to be playing on Friday nights, not Thursdays, and she kind of freaked out,” Hart chuckled. “I never worried. I knew if I worked hard that I could do it.”

Despite the fantastic numbers Hart put up in high school, major college football offers never materialized, although Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State, and Georgia Southern all were interested. Once the College of Charleston baseball program came knocking, his mind was set.

“That was my first ever offer and I loved it there,” Hart said. “I loved the coaching staff and everything about the place. Coastal offered me in baseball and when I went there on my visit to check it out, the football coach offered me as well.”

The allure of Charleston was something he couldn’t avoid, and chose to accept the Cougars’ baseball offer.

“I decided Charleston was a better fit for me and my family loved it,” Hart said. “Giving up football was tough, but I figured it would be a lot tougher to play both sports in college. Every sport is pretty much a year-long thing in college. They say there’s an offseason, but there’s really not an offseason. I just decided to focus on one sport and be the best I could be at that sport.”

Baseball has worked out well for the youngster, who was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American after his past season at Charleston, where he scored 37 runs and drove in 33 with a .314 batting average, including 11 doubles in 53 games, not to mention his defensive prowess.

“I had no idea about the freshman All-America thing until my coach texted me,” Hart said. “I was happy because all the hard work had paid off. I owe a lot to my coach and teammates for making me better, and for all the support my family has given me.”

For Charlottesville’s entry in the Valley League, a wooden bat, summer college league program, Hart has started to come on strong. He is hitting .280 in 75 at-bats, with 21 hits and eight RBI, including five doubles.

If he gets a hit in Tuesday night’s game, he will tie the Tom Sox record for consecutive games with at least one hit with eight.

“I just found out about that Sunday night,” Hart said after he extended his streak to seven games in a row. “I was looking forward to playing before a huge crowd in Charlottesville on July 4. I think that would have been fun.”

Rain storms washed out Monday night’s game, so Hart will have to wait for the next opportunity.

“I love Dupree,” said manager Thomas. “He’s not a hoot-and-holler guy. Not a lot of emotion. He’s very even-keeled. He’s a quiet Southern gentleman who gets after it on the baseball field.”

One of the things that has impressed Thomas is Hart’s ability to get a good read on the ball coming off the bat, and gets himself in good fielding position.

Hart said he has been getting adjusted to summer ball and the wooden bats, and is starting to figure things out.

“It’s a lot different, playing every day, keeping on your workout plan, keeping up with your swings in the cages, playing with and against people from all different areas and schools, but it’s a lot of fun,” Hart said. “I’m embracing it, trying to find a balance.”

At the same time, he is working on trying to hit the ball deeper, hitting more to the opposite field, and turning double plays quicker.

He had played with a wooden bat in some travel ball back in high school, but trying to make the adjustment to everyday use in summer league.

“It’s a lot tougher,” Hart said of switching from metal to wood. “A lot of hits you’d have with metal bats that would find the gap, don’t find the gap with a wooden bat. With a wooden bat, I try not to do too much, and I think that’s helped me.”

Although he misses football, he has no regrets.

“I played football since I was eight years old, but you can’t live your life with what if I had done this or done that,” Hart said. “I love playing baseball at Charleston. I absolutely love baseball. I want to make the best out of what happens there.”