Smith

West Chester University baseball coach Mike LaRosa usually goes into a series against an opponent with a mindset of not letting one player beat them. When Central High School graduate Hunter Smith was at Mansfield last season, he was that guy in the Mountaineer lineup.

“That’s pretty rare for a freshman,” LaRosa said.

LaRosa didn’t know that Smith would become a Golden Ram for his team this season.

The move across the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference has paid dividends for Smith and West Chester, which traveled Wednesday morning to Cary, N.C. for the NCAA Division II World Series, which starts Friday.

The Golden Rams have won the Division II national championship twice (2012, 2017), and it is their sixth appearance in the tournament. This time, it will be as the top seed as they open play against the University of Indianapolis on Friday evening.

“We all knew it was our goal to get there,” Smith said. “I think most of the season we were thinking, ‘How can we win the next game?’ We set ourselves up for playoffs, and once you get to playoffs, anything can happen. You get hot and you can go on a run and do anything.”

There were plenty of wins for West Chester this season as it heads into the tournament with a 44-10 record. Smith has been a staple as the No. 5 hitter in the Rams’ lineup, hitting .339 with seven home runs and 55 RBIs for the season.

“Hunter has been the best,” LaRosa said. “First off, he’s a first-class kid. Polite, well-mannered, coachable, he works hard, tough. He checks all the boxes that you would want as a coach.

“He’s been in the heart of our order for the majority of the season. He really kind of settled into the 5-hole. In college baseball, that 5-spot always seems to be the RBI spot. It just feels like time and time again he is clutch.”

Fans of Central are hoping Smith brings home a national championship like another recent alumnus did in Paxton Kling. Kling, who is now in the minor leagues in the Texas Rangers system, won a national championship in 2023 with LSU and star Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes.

“(Smith and Kling) were both always the hardest workers in the room,” Central baseball coach A.J. Hoenstine said. “They played the game the right way. The biggest thing was they were both coachable. They wanted to be coached, and coached hard. I’ve always said it’s easy to coach when your best players are your hardest workers, and I think that would signify both of those guys.

“(Smith) has always been a fantastic athlete. He was an outstanding football and basketball player, and you kind of knew that once he just started doing baseball he would get a lot better. He’s got a lot bigger, faster, stronger. I think it shows with the season he had and being first team all-conference.”

West Chester graduated many seniors after last season’s team that lost in the NCAA regionals. Smith saw an opportunity there, and committed to LaRosa after hitting .285 as a freshman at Mansfield.

“I knew they were kind of reloading,” Smith said. “I knew with their success of past years of going to the World Series and winning it, and doing really well in the PSAC. I knew this would be a good opportunity for me to go play and win a lot of games there, and win championships. That was a goal for me.”

LaRosa said he had never met Smith when he was coming out of Central two years ago. He quickly learned who he was when they played a series in Mansfield.

“We were watching their video, and it seemed like every video there was Hunter Smith hitting a double in the gap, or an opposite-field home run as a freshman,” LaRosa said. “And he was doing it against really good arms in the conference.”

Smith and the Golden Rams had a special chance to play at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, this season. West Chester won the game, 11-2, and Smith clubbed a bases-clearing triple in the game.

Smith was quick to point out that he had played at Peoples Natural Gas before, including the PIAA semifinal game against Tyrone in 2021 where there were 5,000 people in the stadium. But playing in a Major League Baseball stadium was a different animal.

“That was really cool,” Smith said. “I have a little experience playing at minor league ballparks, but playing in that stadium was awesome.”

Smith has mostly played left field for West Chester, but he has also saw time as a catcher and at first base. He’s done it at a high level, committing only two errors in 53 games for the year.

Hoenstine and Smith have kept in contact regularly through text messages, and Hoenstine is excited for Smith’s opportunity on the national stage.

“Going in there with the No. 1 seed is outstanding,” Hoenstine said. “They had a great season. I was surprised they got the 1-seed. That’s fantastic. Hopefully they can make a run there and bring a championship home.”

West Chester’s first game with No. 8 Indianapolis is at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Also in the 8-team World Series are No. 2 Tampa, third-seeded Catawba, No. 4 Central Missouri, No. 5 UT Tyler, sixth-seeded Point Loma, and No. 7 Bentley.

“This is why you play college baseball — to go win a national championship,” Smith said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing to do.”