RBI's Hoyer to attend Towson, play club baseball

  With his time in high school over, Jake Hoyer had two wishes for college — study engineering and play baseball. There just so happened to be an opportunity to do both at nearby Towson University.

  The standout for the Maryland RBI AAU travel-select team and the Broadneck High School Class of 2015 graduate accepted the opportunity of trying out as an invited walk-on to join the Tigers' National Collegiate Baseball Association (NCBA) club baseball program.

  The NCBA is a national athletic association, like the NCAA for college athletes. A "club" team is not the same as a college varsity sport funded by the athletic department. Club baseball teams are funded usually through the intramurals and recreation department.

  Club teams form in two ways — one is lack of funding to field a varsity team. The other way to form a club is schools that have a varsity team who choose to field a second team, such as Towson.

  “I wanted to continue playing ball in college somewhere and get a degree in engineering,” Hoyer said.

  Foregoing the opportunity to play varsity baseball in college, he thought his future on the diamond might be done but didn’t let that deter him.

  “I basically just talked to the Towson club baseball guys about myself and what I've been doing in the sport with Maryland RBI and advanced skills development and at Broadneck HS and that was enough they knew that I could play.”

  In fact, Hoyer emerged in 2015 as one of Maryland RBI’s top players as a right fielder, first baseman, and left-handed pitcher, in addition to being a team leader at the plate where he has been red hot this summer.

  In AAU, he batted .348 with 4 doubles, 1 triple and 10 runs batted in. Last year after playing for Broadneck HS and battling through injuries, he hit .262 with 2 doubles and 9 runs batted in. As a senior at Broadneck HS, Hoyer batted .307 for the MPSSA Class 4A Bruins with a .417 OBP.

  “If I make a roster spot on the Towson club team, I’ll play this upcoming season," he said. "They told me I’d definitely be pitching and working in the outfield somewhere. If not, I’ll sit out and just focus on getting stronger for RBI next summer. I still have a year of AAU remaining.”

  The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Hoyer is hoping to continue developing his game.

  “My game has good upside,” he said. “I am looking forward to the possibility of getting into the system up there [at Towson]. I can get a lot bigger, faster and stronger. I think I cover a lot of ground in the outfield, but I need to work at the plate getting into better counts and keeping my arm strong for pitching."

  On the mound, Hoyer hurled 9.1 innings with 10 strikeouts and 4.50 ERA for Maryland RBI, which finished the 2014-2015 campaign 22-3-3 AAU, 31-9-6 overall (.733).

  The Tigers play in the NCBA's Division 1 North Atlantic - East Conference, which consists of Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra, Rutgers, Sacred Heart, and Towson.

  "If you win your conference, you qualify for a regional against another conference winner and if you win that, you qualify for the NCBA World Series," Hoyer said.

  "I love baseball and can't stay away, so the invitation to try out for club this fall is exciting," Hoyer said. "I started playing ball when I was a kid. My dad was a pro ball player and he passed on his knowledge to me. In baseball you don't want to over think anything, so I like to have fun and compete as hard as I can with my teammates."

  Maryland RBI manager Mike Graham said, "Not only is Jake a good baseball player, but he is an outstanding young man. Nobody works harder on his game on and off the field than Jake. His hustle and determination sets the standard for a Maryland RBI student-athlete, and the coaching staff are extremely proud of him. I know his mom and dad are."