ALL-AREA BASEBALL: Beauregard's Hillyer connects at plate, in classroom

All eyes at Beauregard High School, students and parents alike, were on Hayden Hillyer on a Thursday night in late May.

And it wasn’t because they were expecting him to come up with a clutch hit, as he had so many times on the baseball field over his career with the Hornets.

Hillyer was standing on the stage at graduation, addressing the Class of 2009 as its valedictorian.

And he hit it out of the park.

“I got a standing O,” he said with a smile.

Hillyer handled academics and athletics with equal ease over his time at Beauregard.

The outfielder hit .478, had a .623 on-base percentage and set school records in hits (55) and doubles (18) during his senior season, earning First-Team All-State honors in Class 5A and the Opelika-Auburn News’ Hitter of the Year.

He also finished high school with a 4.95 GPA, which was high enough to get some looks from Ivy League schools when it came time for recruiting.

“The Ivy League stuff was football, I mean, and I wanted to focus on baseball,” Hillyer said. “I thought about it for maybe a second.

“Then I realized that kind of wasn’t for me.”

Hillyer originally signed on to play at Central Alabama Community College during the season, but then parlayed a strong senior campaign and good showings with his summer travel ball team into an offer from Troy University.

The first Beauregard baseball player to ever sign with a D-I school.

“He’s got no fear. He’s a gritty, tough competitor,” Hornets coach A.J. Kehoe said. “When he gets into the box, he refuses to believe anyone can get him out.”

Hillyer experienced a fair share of firsts for his school during his final year in high school, Beauregard’s first year in 5A.

The Hornets set a school record in wins with 32 and, after a grueling second-round series against area rival Tallassee, advanced to their first state quarterfinals.

There, Beauregard ran into a roadblock in the form of Briarwood Christian and its 5A Pitcher of the Year Ben Bracewell, who will play at Mississippi State next year.

Bracewell no-hit the Hornets, and the Lions run-ruled Beauregard in Game 1 of the best-of-three series.

There was no question in Hillyer’s mind there would be a Game 3.

“We went back and regrouped. I think we knew what we had to get done in order to do that,” Hillyer said. “I feel like they respected us more, too, after that second game.”

Beauregard scored seven in the fifth inning of Game 2 to push the series to a second day, then put a little scare into the Lions with four in the fifth in Game 3 before Briarwood pulled away, 13-5.

Even though Hillyer feels the Hornets’ season ended two rounds too early, he can admit it was still a good way to go out.

“It means a lot to me. It makes me feel like I did something good for my team and my school,” Hillyer said. “I just wanted to make sure my community finally got some respect, our school got some respect from the bigger schools in the area.”

dmorrison@oanow.com | 737-2568