Hughes baseball finds brighter 'Day'

The clouds are clearing above the Hughes High School baseball team these days.

After years of losing records head coach Mark Day has the Big Red off to a winning start this spring, atop the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference.

And you better believe it feels good.

"It's a blessing," said Day, who took over the program four years ago and put his faith in a youth movement. "I can't say I knew it was going to be a special year, but it was definitely in place.

"These seniors were freshmen when I first got the job. I had to play them early. We took a lot of bumps and bruises the first couple years."

Hughes improved to third place in the CMAC last year, but, ironically, it was a loss that sparked the most optimism heading into the offseason. The Big Red fell 3-1 to traditional power McNicholas in the sectional tournament – a sure sign of progress for a program that's previous five sectional defeats were by a total of 64 runs.

"With everybody returning from that team, I just figured if we stick together and work out in the offseason, good things can happen," Day said.

It helps that the seniors – Raepheal Dell, Juwan Greir-Deloach, Kelchie Gilbert, Jermiah Miller, Ejuan Randolph, Edwin Taylor and Geante West – are a "brotherhood," according to the coach.

It also helps that three players – Miller, Taylor and Taylor's freshman brother Ace – have played in the Reds' RBI (Reviving Baseball In Inner Cities) program since they were 10 years old.

The Big Red also links to the (bigger) Reds through the Cincinnati Urban Baseball Academy in Roselawn. Day organized workouts there on Sundays throughout the offseason, and the players bought into the weekly grind.

"The kids loved it, being able to put in the work," Day said. "It's something that we haven't been able to do in past years."

The offseason work showed up in the season's first week. Miller and Edwin Taylor pitched back-to-back no-hitters in the first two games of the spring.

"I feel like since our freshman year, we kept working and doing everything we had to do," said Taylor, who started playing baseball when he was 4, in Avondale. "We know we've gotta come out and play hard in order to win. In order to accomplish bigger things, we have to play as a team.

"Our biggest goal for the season is to win the CMAC championship."

Western Hills is the defending league champ and likely Hughes' top competition again. The teams play Monday, April 27.

"It's time to make that jump and go ahead and win it," Day said.