More than baseball: Rock Hill’s summer league team learns faith-based lessons

One could say the Kingsmen baseball team is looking to perfect a triple play this summer. The goal is to sharpen baseballs, do mission work, and understand Christianity.

It’s June and the college baseball season is over for most players. So they turn to summer league competition to hone skills. Former Winthrop University baseball coach Joe Hudak purposefully started the Christian-based team.

“For me personally, the two things I’m most passionate about, other than my kids, is Christ and baseball. And this lets me do both,” Joe Hudak said recently.

“When I decided to start this team, my goal was to help guys get better on a baseball field. And I love the game. But I also love Jesus, and I like telling other kids about Christ. Our goal for the summer is just to help them understand what it really means to be a Christian.”

Hudak started the team in 2015 after a 19-year head coaching stint at Winthrop University. He led the Eagles from 1992 to 2010. In that time he amassed 660 wins and six 40-win seasons.

The team originally was called Pride Baseball and was part of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League, a Charlotte-region summer league. Hudak changed the name to something that better reflects his faith. And the team’s no longer part of the SCBL.

Hudak has been around the summer circuit and knows how it works. He also knows how to ensure that players get the best out of their offseason.

“We tried to do a lot of the things that we did at Winthrop,” Hudak said. “A lot of summer league coaches, they’ll just roll out the balls and say let the guys play. Well, I’m not wired that way. If they’re keeping score, we’re playing to win.”

However, Hudak focuses on thinking through game strategy, with less emphasis on winning.

“Obviously, the college season is super long,” said Justin Stewart, one of the team’s returning players who just completed his final baseball season at California University of Pennsylvania. “It’s 50-55 games plus if you go to the playoffs. So this kind of gives it more of a relaxing feel and just go out there and have some fun. You still want to win and everything, but it’s not so much live or die like in college.”

Aidan Rice, a freshman at Davidson College, is another returning player for the Kingsmen. He said Hudak’s coaching style allows him to work on things that’ll prepare him for the upcoming college baseball season.

“Coach Hudak loves to teach,” Rice said. “He’s a big IQ guy with the game, so it’s also good to pick things from his brain .... So using that and also being able to get a lot of reps and a lot of at-bats, it’s going to help you.”

However, one of the most important things the team does happens away from the diamond.

‘Grateful for every single thing’

The team takes a mission trip every year to the Dominican Republic where they play local teams and volunteer in the community. It’s an eye-opening experience for the players.

“It’s an indescribable feeling for sure,” Rice said. “Especially when you go to the Dominican, and it just kind of leaves you speechless. You don’t really know how to describe it. It’s a feeling you get. Even after it’s over, from the time I left to when I’m back here now.

“I still think like, if I’m ever going through something, I think back to seeing how other people are living and realize that you have to be grateful for every single thing you have.”

Hudak said trips to the Domincan Republic help his players learn to navigate life away from sports.

“The people there are so happy, yet they have nothing (compared to us),” Hudak said. “Here in America, we have everything, and we’re miserable. We’re upset because we don’t have the right phone or the right plan or we don’t have a car that’s new enough.

“Down there, they don’t have phones. They don’t have internet, yet they’re so happy. I think that’s the thing that our guys end up taking back is that hopefully they realize how blessed we are. That they realize that material things don’t bring happiness. They never have, they never will.”

The team’s faith-based principles create an atmosphere for players to develop off the field. The players live in Rock Hill during the summer. Some are local, but the rest stay with host families.

Hudak said it costs about $4,600 per season per player. The players pay about $2,000 themselves and participate in fundraising to raise the rest of the money.

This summer, they also will go to Alaska.

Hudak said he would never force his players into Christianity. That’s not the purpose of the team.

“Much more important, off the field, is to help our guys understand what it really means to be a Christian,” Hudak said. “So they can make the decision whether they want to be one or not.

“We’re trying to give them information so they understand what it really means, so they can decide ‘yeah, I want to be a Christ follower’ or ‘no, I don’t think that’s for me.’ That’s their choice to make.

“We just want to try to help them be able to make an informed decision. And while they do it, we want to enjoy playing the game we love, and we want to travel. I mean, it’s a great summer.

“I don’t know that there’s another team in the country that does what we do. We play baseball at a high level. We’re growing our faith. We’re going to Alaska and the Dominican Republic. It’s a great summer.”

The team practices and plays their home games at York Comprehensive High School. The team’s first home game is 6:30 p.m. June 7 against the Carolina Disco Turkeys.

This story was originally published June 7, 2023 at 7:56 AM.