When you are the new kid the block, you always try harder to make a good first impression.For Austin Hayes, his junior baseball season at Lugoff-Elgin was one which he would rather forget. Coming off a second surgery to the right elbow on his throwing arm, Hayes was a mere shadow of his former self when he joined Randy Stokes’ Demons.A year of constant work in the off-season paid dividends this past spring and summer for Hayes. Now, fully mended, Hayes went on to be among the leading hitters for the 2013 Demons as well as for a Kershaw County Post 17 American Legion, which he led in runs batted in.So impressive was Hayes that over the course of the summer season, he caught the eye of Sumter Post 15 American Legion head coach Curtis Johnson, who told first-year USC-Sumter head coach Tim Medlin to give Hayes a look-see.The early summer recruitment was finalized when Hayes signed a National Letter of Intent with the Fire Ants.
Now injury-free, Hayes ready to make his mark with the Fire Ants

