2018 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll
Started 63 games at shortstop in 2018 as a true freshman, stepping into the starting role after an early-season back injury suffered by Josh Smith … Hughes is the son of an outstanding college coach who has been around the game his whole life … a terrific defensive player that can play anywhere on the infield … very solid fundamentally at the plate and will gain more strength to become a productive and consistent hitter … son of Pete Hughes, who is the head baseball coach at Kansas State and has served as head coach at Boston College, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma … batted .281 with two doubles and 15 RBI for the Rockford (Ill.) Rivets of the Northwoods League in the summer of 2018 .. a member of the 2018 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll as a sport administration major.
2018 Season
Played in 65 games, starting 63 games at shortstop … batted .221 (42-for-190) with eight doubles, one triple, one homer, 20 RBI, 25 runs and two stolen bases … 2-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI in LSU’s NCAA Regional win over Northwestern State (June 3) … collected a career-high three hits with one RBI and one run scored on May 6 versus Arkansas … recorded a double and two RBI on March 11 versus Hawaii … blasted first career homer versus Grambling (Feb. 27), a solo shot … posted two hits and two RBI in back-to-back games versus New Orleans (Feb. 21) and Texas (Feb. 23)
Prior to LSU
Selected as first-team all-state Oklahoma by USA Today … named the starting shortstop in the 2017 Oklahoma All-State Game … voted 2017 Defensive Player of the Year in the state of Oklahoma … batted .360 last season with one homer, 17 RBI and 25 steals … posted a .995 fielding percentage, committing just one error on the year … four-year letterman at Norman North HS, where he became the winningest player in school history … helped lead Norman North HS to district titles in 2014 and 2017, and regional championships in 2016 and 2017 … a member of the National Honor Society.
Personal
Full name is Hal Kent Hughes … parents are Pete and Debby Hughes … Pete Hughes is the head baseball coach at Kansas State, and he formerly worked as head coach at Boston College, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma … Pete played college baseball and football and Davidson, and Debby played tennis at Davidson … Hal has four siblings, one older and three younger … on attending LSU – “I chose to come to LSU to play for the best program in coaches in college baseball.” … majoring in sport administration at LSU … born September 3, 1998, in Boston, Mass.
Hughes’ LSU Career Highs
At-Bats: 5 vs. Northwestern State (6/3/18)
Hits: 3 vs. Arkansas (5/6/18); vs. Southern (3/6/18)
Runs Scored: 2 three times; most recently vs. Northwestern State (5/15/18)
Doubles: 2 vs. Northwestern State (6/3/18)
Triples: 1 vs. Hawaii (3/10/18)
Home Runs: 1 vs. Grambling (2/27/18)
RBI: 2 four times; most recently vs. Northwestern State (6/3/18)