Arkansas native James Hicks returns to Natural State with South Carolina
FAYETTEVILLE — South Carolina right-handed pitcher James Hicks is making his return to the Natural State this weekend in a way he never planned on.
A native of Conway, Hicks' path to having a chance to throw on the mound at Baum-Walker Stadium was not easy or expected. After having one coach — Crowder College assistant Tyler Sawyer — take a chance on him, Hicks is now in a position to pitch against the home-state Razorbacks.
"It's definitely not the way my 15-year-old self would've drawn up pitching at Baum, having Baum Stadium as my screen saver in high school and Razorback flags in JUCO," said Hicks, who grew up cheering for Arkansas Baseball and looking up to former Hogs such as Blaine Knight and Dominic Ficociello.
Getting to South Carolina was an interesting path for Hicks. He didn't have plans to pitch after his high school days with the Wampus Cats, who he was a two-way player for and he notably homered off of Arkansas LHP Zack Morris, who pitched for Cabot.
"I didn't ever really have the plan to play baseball in college if I'm being honest," Hicks said. "The only place that I would go play is UCA, and UCA wasn't interested. I got done with that senior year and said 'Screw it. Might as well play summer ball one last time.'"
During the 2019 summer, Hicks had the opportunity to throw in front of a UCA coach, but the coach left halfway through the game. Also in attendance was Sawyer, who talked to Hicks after the game about playing for Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri.
"I knew that they were pretty good, so my thought process was that's a good JUCO," Hicks said. "If I go there, then I can pretty much go wherever I want if I do good there."
Hicks performed well during the spring of his sophomore season in 2021, when he was named First Team All-Region after earning an 11-3 record with a 4.28 ERA, 89 strikeouts, eight complete games and a 1.22 WHIP in 90 1/3 innings pitched for the Roughriders.
"I've never seen anyone put in the kind of work that he put in at Crowder," Thomas McNabb, a Conway native and former Crowder pitcher, told GamecockScoop. "He was a pretty skinny kid in high school, and then he went off to Crowder for a year and he was almost unrecognizable because of how much bigger and stronger he had gotten."
The offers started to roll in for Hicks, but Arkansas was not one of them.
"I never talked to Arkansas," Hicks said. "It's definitely a chip on the shoulder. It's in the back of my head. It would've been cool, but it's alright."
He did develop plenty of Arkansas connections while at Crowder, as he roomed with Arkansas infielder Peyton Holt, whom he became best friends with during the 2021 season, and he was also on the same pitching staff with Razorback relief pitcher Dylan Carter, who suffered a torn UCL and is out for the season.
Hicks will likely get to pitch against Holt at some point this weekend, and he remembers the last time well.
"I remember at Crowder I had an at-bat where I threw about three straight curveballs to him and he hit that about 400 feet, so I told him I'm not doing that again," Hicks said.
After just two appearances for the Gamecocks in 2022, Hicks suffered a torn UCL that required Tommy John surgery and cut his season short. He was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 15th round of the 2022 MLB Draft, but he elected to return to South Carolina.
"I reached out to probably way too many people about their advice because everybody said a different thing and it just kind of messed with my head more," Hicks said. "I ultimately came down to South Carolina is a great place to be. It's in the SEC and I only pitched seven innings. I figured if I come back and have a good year and hopefully be in the same boat I was in, and if not, I got to pitch in the SEC for a year."
Returning seems to have worked out for Hicks, who has a 6-1 record, a 3.88 ERA, two saves and 38 strikeouts compared to just 12 walks in 46 1/3 innings pitched as a redshirt junior this year.
With probably 20-25 friends and family members coming to see him in Fayetteville this weekend, Hicks will finally get to throw at Baum-Walker Stadium — just with a name across his chest that he never expected.
"This is the way it was always supposed to be, I guess," Hicks said. "I'm blessed to be where I am and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm excited to pitch against them."