Contributed Photo
                                Lumberton’s Hayden Hunt, left, signed Wednesday to play college baseball at Francis Marion, and Bobby Baxley, right, signed with Lenoir Community College.

Contributed Photo

Lumberton’s Hayden Hunt, left, signed Wednesday to play college baseball at Francis Marion, and Bobby Baxley, right, signed with Lenoir Community College.

<p>Contributed photo</p>
                                <p>Lumberton’s Hayden Hunt signs to play college baseball at Francis Marion.</p>

Contributed photo

Lumberton’s Hayden Hunt signs to play college baseball at Francis Marion.

<p>Contributed photo</p>
                                <p>Lumberton’s Bobby Baxley signs to play college baseball at Lenoir Community College.</p>

Contributed photo

Lumberton’s Bobby Baxley signs to play college baseball at Lenoir Community College.

LUMBERTON — Two Lumberton baseball players signed Wednesday to continue their playing careers at the collegiate level.

Pitcher/outfielder Hayden Hunt signed with Francis Marion and pitcher/infielder Bobby Baxley signed with Lenoir Community College.

Hunt will play for the Patriots, an NCAA Division-II program, in Florence, South Carolina.

“I went down there and the coaches just made me feel like I was at home,” Hunt said. “They have a beautiful complex, and the campus is beautiful also, and it’s just somewhere that I feel like was the best fit for me, and I’ll actually get some playing time.”

Staying close to home was a plus to joining FMU for Hunt.

“That was big, because I didn’t want to go too far, but also somewhere I could be on my own at the same time,” Hunt said.

The Patriots are longtime conference rivals of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke; they’ll continue to be so when both schools move to Conference Carolinas for the 2021-22 academic year. That will give Hunt some games close to home, and with some familiar faces in the opposing dugout.

“That’s definitely going to be fun, playing with guys like (Jonathon Jacobs) from Purnell (Swett) next year at the college level,” Hunt said.

Hunt, who also had offers from Chowan, Methodist and Coker, is batting .308 with nine runs and three RBIs for the Pirates this season. Hunt’s pitching opportunities have been limited this season due to injuries, and he only had one outing before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In 2019, he pitched to a 4.74 ERA as a sophomore in 10 1/3 innings.

“I’m going in as a two-way (player), but we’ll see whichever I do best at — probably pitching; that’s always been my main thing,” Hunt said.

Baxley will play at the junior-college level for the Lancers of Lenoir Community College.

“I went there, talked to the coach and everything. I liked the school and everything, and I think (junior college) is the better fit for me, instead of going to a university, because I’m not fully equipped for a university right now, so I think the (junior college) will be the best fit for me right now.”

The school, located in Kinston, gave Baxley a chance to also stay close to home.

“I had some other schools (interested), but I just looked at what was closer to home and stuff like that.”

Baxley is hitting .269 with seven runs, seven RBIs and one home run this season. In 21 innings pitched, he has a 3.67 ERA with 19 strikeouts. He is expected to play second base collegiately.

“The coaches were just so good to me and everything, and I’ll have good teammates and everything, so I think that was the best bet for me,” Baxley said.

Baxley, who also had interest from UNCP and Fayetteville Tech Community College, said the chance to play college baseball is the realization of a dream.

“People nowadays want to play pro ball and everything, but my biggest priority is to try to make it to college,” he said.

Lumberton coach Jeff McLamb said both schools are getting not just quality baseball players, but quality individuals.

“They’re getting two really solid baseball players, and also good young men,” McLamb said. “Good in the classroom, well-behaved; they’re getting two solid kids. They made a big deal for us this year.”

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.