Last year the Randolph-Macon baseball team came into the season highly touted and tabbed to be the top squad in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. However, things quickly fell apart as the team faced multiple adversities and the Yellow Jackets made an impressive stretch run to finish the year tied for second in the conference.

  This year, the success of the R-MC team could largely ride on the performances of a pair of former Goochland High School players; Kyle Hicks and Brian Jordan.

  Last season was a learning experience for both players for diversely different reasons.

  Hicks came into the season as R-MC’s ace on the mound and was expected to have a break-out year. He started the season in stellar fashion going 2-0 in three starts. But then in his fourth start, on March 8 at Hampden-Sydney, Hicks suffered an elbow injury and was sidelined for the rest of the season. In four games, Hicks’ resume was impressive; 18 strikeouts in 22 innings pitched and an ERA of 2.45. 

  “I felt good at the beginning of the season but it was the same arm problem I had my freshman and sophomore year,” Hicks said.

  With Hicks out of the rotation, the Yellow Jackets began to falter.

  “He was throwing the heck out of the ball and doing really, really well,” said R-MC head coach Ray Hedrick. “When he had that injury at Hampden-Sydney, that was certainly a downer. That was a deflating moment for our program at that time of year.”

  After starting the season 5-1, R-MC lost eight straight, part of a 3-13 stretch.

  “Kyle got hurt and that sort of messed up our pitching rotation,” Jordan said.

  “I wish I could have performed the rest of the season,” Hicks said. “I felt bad because I was gone.”

  Ironically in Hicks’ absence, Jordan came into a starting role on the mound, something he had wanted to achieve at the college level.

  “I was just pitching when need be because I was needed in the outfield and we had another guy in the same situation,” he said. “It was kind of a piece it together year last year. We had guys out for various reasons so we had to kind of put together the season as best we could.”

  Pitching was nothing new to Jordan, after all, he and Hicks were the one-two punch that led Goochland to the 2006 Group A State Championship. But what was new for Jordan was adjusting to the college game. After spending a year at Virginia Tech, Jordan saw his first collegiate action at R-MC last season.

  Jordan admits he had high expectations for the team coming into the season. “I thought we were going to do better as a team,” he said. “I thought we were going to win the conference. I thought it was going to be a little bit easier than it was. But college baseball’s a little more difficult than what it’s made out to be coming out of high school.”

  “I think coming last year coming in here from Virginia Tech, was a little bit of an eye opener,” Hedrick said of Jordan. “I think a lot of times when you come from that level down to a smaller level you don’t think it’s going to be as competitive and as tough as it is. I think Brian, while he played every day and he pitched quite a bit for us, he realized at the end of the year there were things he could do to become better.”

  Jordan finished the season on the mound 2-1 with a 4.62 ERA, recording 23 strikeouts in 25.1 innings pitched.

  However, Jordan’s true contribution to the team came in every other aspect of his play, finishing his first year of college ball with a .292 batting average in 89 at-bats with one home run and four RBI. He was 3-for-4 on steal attempts and recorded a .959 fielding percentage.

  But more importantly, as the season progressed Jordan and the Yellow Jackets found the strength to battle adversity, something Hedrick hopes will carry on into this season.

  After fighting through the losing streak, R-MC finished the season on an 11-4 run.

  Coming into this season, Hedrick believes his players are better prepared mentally for what lies ahead. “I think last year we got caught up in the adversity, whatever it may have been, and it effected us more than it probably should have,” he said. “When you’re dealing with 18 to 22 year olds that’s the challenge, getting them to push through it and muddle through it. I think we are all responsible for not dealing with it, like Kyle’s injury, as best we could have.”

  But with one more year of maturity under their belt the Yellow Jackets are better equipped heading into this season.

  “I think if we just keep our heads straight we’ll be all right this year,” Hicks said. “Last year we really didn’t keep our heads straight as much as we should. I think we ought to be all right this year.”

  Hedrick believes that for Hicks, the injury became a driving force. Though eligible for a redshirt, Hicks is approaching this season as if it is his last and he has much left to accomplish.

  “I think Kyle would agree, he’s sort of been average to this point in his college career,” Hedrick said. “I think it cast a bad shadow over Kyle’s career because he was really, really doing well.”

  After having surgery at season’s end, Hicks was cleared to throw at 100 percent in the fall and since has worked himself back into top form. “I feel like now I can really let it go and I don’t have any pain,” he said.

  With his arm and ability back, Hicks is now in position to throw off his past. “He senses the urgency of it being his senior year,” Hedrick said. “Not so much from a statistical standpoint but a work ethic standpoint. I think he’s bought into it more this year than he ever has in the past.

  “I think he sees the urgency in it and the window is slowly shutting,” Hedrick said. “He doesn’t want to fall into that category of baseball quitting him. He wants to have the choice to quit baseball and he realizes he’s got four, five, maybe six months before that fear could become a reality, so he’s put in the effort and the time.”

  Though there is more to this year’s Yellow Jacket team than Hicks and Jordan, Hedrick was clear about the importance of the former Bulldog duo. “I don’t want to say we’ll go as Goochland goes,” he said, “but those two guys are going to be a big part of our success this year.”