THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270536
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 45 lines
Despite a bout with cancer and a disappointing junior college career, Greenbrier Christian graduate Mike Hoskins has achieved his goal of being a Division I baseball player.
Hoskins, the 1994 Virginia Independent Schools Player of the Year and a former All-Tidewater selection, has accepted a partial academic and athletic scholarship from William and Mary.
Hoskins, who battled Hodgkin's Disease through the summer and fall of 1993, will catch and play first base for the Tribe.
``Things have been working out really well,'' said Hoskins, who has been in remission for three years and recently completed two years at Louisburg (N.C.) Junior College, where he maintained a 4.0 grade-point average.
At one time in high school, Hoskins was receiving recruiting interest from North Carolina State, Virginia Commonwealth and Clemson. But after the cancer struck in the summer between his junior and senior years, interest dwindled, even though he went on to bat .516 as a senior at Greenbrier.
``The word spreads pretty fast when you get sick like that,'' Hoskins said. ``After I got sick, the coaches didn't know what I could do.''
An A student who scored 1,200 on the SAT, Hoskins could have gone to many colleges without baseball, but he accepted a baseball scholarship to Louisburg with the hope of re-attracting the interest of Division I schools.
``I looked at it as a chance to work my way back up,'' he said. ``I knew it would work out in the end.''
In his first college season, Hoskins started at third base and caught while hitting .315. This year, however, Hoskins saw less playing time as Louisburg posted a 40-10 record. He finished with a batting average of only .240.
``It was disappointing,'' he said. ``No one looks at you and you can't get better if you're not doing the same thing every day.''
Hoskins had the chance to play every day with the Yankees in the Tidewater Summer League, however, and when William and Mary coaches saw him, they thought enough of him to make an offer.
``I'm looking forward to it,'' said Hoskins, who plans a double major in sociology and political science. ``I'll get to play baseball and when I get a degree from William and Mary, it'll mean something.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Mike Hoskins dreamed of playing Division I baseball, even as he
battled cancer. by CNB