Hood Blazers baseball home to three Jefferson players

Infielder Austin Bulman, of Shepherdstown, transferred to Rice in 2020 after a season at a junior college in central North Carolina. Courtesy photo
SHEPHERDSTOWN — Jamie Walsh and Chase Anderson survived enough coronavirus hurdles to earn their high school diplomas from Jefferson High School. The coronavirus had defeated the entire high school baseball season in 2020 throughout the state of West Virginia.
Both Walsh and Anderson had been key figures as the Cougars reeled off another 20-plus win season in 2019.
Walsh was a strike-throwing righthanded pitcher and commanded the strike zone well enough to rarely be troubled by any multi-run innings from opponents.
Anderson was a left-handed hitting second baseman who seemed poised to be a major contributor in his senior year.
Even without the benefit of a senior season both had been evaluated enough in previous summers and high school seasons to draw attention from Hood College in Frederick, Md.
With the 2021 college baseball season about to avoid more coronavirus minefields, Walsh and Anderson are primed to help Hood College play its baseball season.
Not only are Walsh and Anderson former Cougars listed on Hood’s roster, but so is junior outfielder Danny Brennan, now in his third year of college baseball at the NCAA Division III level.
In Hood’s severely curtailed 2020 season that was dragged off the field after only seven games last year, Brennan batted four times. In 2019 as a freshman, he has 12 at-bats.
Last year’s Hood edition also had former Jefferson players Des Grimes and David Dinges.
The Blazer schedule calls for the season to begin with games against Alvernia (Reading, Pa.), Stevenson (Owings Mills, Md.), Messiah College (Grantham, Pa.), York (York, Pa.), Lebanon Valley (Annville, Pa.) and Widener (Chester, Pa.).
Should the season be moved through without a hitch, it will be completed in late April, when Widener is seen.
Hood has a to-be-admired academic reputation, and the yearly tuition is $42,300. There are 2,050 students. The athletic director is former Shepherd basketball player Tom Dickman, who began Hood men’s basketball team and coached it through the 2014 season.
Another former Jefferson player is currently in his second season at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Infielder Austin Bulman transferred to Rice in 2020 after a season at a junior college in central North Carolina. He batted around .265 in the curtailed 2020 season, and in games through March 5 of this season he had four hits in 25 at-bats for a .160 batting average. Rice had a 3-5 record and had not played any conference games.
Shepherd’s attempts to get the season off the ground have not been rewarded yet. The Rams have postponed games at Francis Marion (South Carolina) and at Pembroke (North Carolina), as well as dates last weekend in Shepherdstown against Alderson-Broaddus. This weekend will see the Rams playing four more Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference games.