The Latin Boys: a new trademark for the Charlotte Latin Hawks baseball team. Head coach Daniel Cooke created the motto, and the team wears it proudly on their backs. Last spring, the team faced a lot of adversity, from COVID restrictions to upperclassmen injuries, so the Latin Boys had to work hard to compete on the field.

Last season the team went 9-11 overall, and 5-6 in conference play, finishing fourth in the conference. At the end of the regular season, they gave their fans hope by going on a five game winning streak beating Durham Academy once, Cannon twice, and Covenant day twice. The final game of the regular season, the Hawks lost by one to the Charlotte Christian Knights. Narrowly losing to Christian (a team good enough to win the state championship) gave the Latin Boys the confidence they needed leading into the upcoming season. Losing on a walkoff hit, launching off of the bat of Ole Miss commit and Charlotte Christian Knight Judd Utermark, there were a lot of emotions flowing postgame.

 Once the team had made it to the end of the season, the Boys felt tremendous excitement looking ahead to the 2022 season. However, saying goodbye to the leaders and some of the hardest workers wasn’t easy; the team only had three seniors, but they contributed pretty heavily during the season. Christopher Ronek, Sam House and Nathan Samii were great role models who brought unmatched spirit during every game. The team will miss them, but now they have new seniors who will step up into that position.

With a great senior class (including returners Dave Mosrie, Thomas Hullinger, Sam Lucas and Max Rimler,) the team possesses high expectations for a successful year in their last year with the four senior Hawks on the diamond. Pressure will really be on this upcoming season for the Hawks. Jake Creamer ‘24 said, “I think we’re gonna be great. We have a great coaching staff that can really develop this program into a winning one.” Led by Coach Cooke, the Hawks work tirelessly to reach their goals. Thomas Hullinger ‘22, said Charlotte Christian was the team to beat for the Hawks, but he felt confident the Boys will be up for the challenge. “I think Christian has always been the top team in our conference, but other than them, we should be able to handle the rest of the teams.” Hullinger also said the seniors were ready to band together and use their leadership skills to  guide the new players this season. “We have a good group of seniors leading the way, four of us that should be providing some leadership for the team and then some good young guys coming along. I’m expecting to have a pretty good record this year, hopefully finish second in the conference and make a little run in the state tournament.”

The Latin Boys not only show a strong band of senior brothers moving into the 2022 season but also they bring with that powerful force a documented upward trend of powerful performance over the past two years. “I think the sky’s the limit. I think in our 2-3 years that our new coaching staff has been here, we’ve been on a steady uptick and that’s through last year playing through a pandemic, and still progressing and going on the right track,” Coach Cooke said. Additionally, the team can look forward to a positive influx of younger, energetic players eager to learn from their older mentors. Cooke said, “There’s energy with middle schoolers, with young kids at Charlotte Latin, so I think we are making baseball exciting and kids want to be a part of the culture.” Cooke also said that team camaraderie contributed to the Boys’ overall success and that laying the groundwork for these relationships will pay dividends on the field. “I’m a big culture guy, you play for the guy beside you, you have good team chemistry and good things happen, so I’m really excited to be a part of this for a long time.”

With a new hype around the program, the Latin Boys have gained more potential to increase in numbers, allowing new possibilities. Cooke revealed he was most excited about how many players came out and how much talent was available to field the teams. “I am probably the most excited about having a full JV and varsity team because for the longest time, Latin has only had a varsity baseball team.” Cooke noted the marked increase in the number of boys who came out for baseball this year and how this influx of different age groups will help insure a vertical future for the program. “This year there are at least 31 kids in the 9-12 grades that are interested in playing baseball, so to have a full JV that kids can play for a year or two before they’re varsity ready and have some success down there, I think it is only going to strengthen our varsity team as well,” Cooke said.

After returning from spring break, the Latin Boys will start conference play facing off against the Charlotte Christian Knights, a revenge game for the Hawks. The team continues to work in the weightroom and on the field while they condition in preparation for the spring season. When the Latin Boys walk onto the field this spring, they will carry their new motto proudly and take the diamond with a determination to win.