When Paul Hughes was asked to coach the St. Joseph Catholic School baseball team in January, he did not think twice before accepting the jobs.
Hughes said he loves the sport of baseball, and he loves working with young athletes. Hughes, a graduate of St. Joseph, said he will always volunteer his time to help young Irish players succeed.
“I just love the game,” he said. “I love baseball and softball. Some of these kids I coached in little league so it was nice to see them out here and see how well they have progressed in the game.
One of the highlights this season is seeing a couple of our ninth graders show real talent and real potential.”
Hughes, who works full time as a manager at Greenville-based Interface Security, is in his second stint at the helm of the Irish. Two years ago, he was the head coach of the team that played just one game because of COVID-19. Last year, the Irish were led by head coach Jason Taylor, who left in the summer to take another high school baseball job.
This season the Fighting Irish are off to a slow start and currently hold a 1-5 record. St. Joseph’s biggest problem has been keeping their pitchers healthy.
St. Joseph’s No. 1 pitcher, Carson Graham, has been unable to pitch for most of the season because of soreness in his pitching. The Irish’s No. 2 pitcher, freshman Qua Nash, has also been unable to pitch with a hyperextended knee.
“It is hard when you have your top pitchers out, but CJ Moore has come in and pitched and given us good innings,” Coach Hughes said. “We have just got to keep working hard and getting better. The good thing is that we have only one senior on our team this year, so our future looks bright with a lot of younger players who are willing to keep putting in the work.”
Jordan Jennings, an outfielder and a catcher, is the lone senior on this year’s team. Jennings has an offer to play college baseball at Coahoma County Community College. Jennings’ leadership has been instrumental to helping the younger Irish players keep working hard, said the Irish coach.
For Jennings, there is still time to turn this baseball season into a winning season. ‘It has been a little rough,” Jennings said. “It seems we always have that one inning where things don’t go our way. I am just going to continue being a leader on the field. Even if mess up on the field, I am still going to act like a leader. Our younger players need to learn that they always have to keep their composure.”
Greg Fore and Kye Nelson are two other Irish players who have had strong seasons. Fore played second base last season and has moved to shortstop in 2022.
Coach Hughes has been with his team every step of the way, except when he went to Italy at the start of the season to visit his son, Tristan, who is serving in the Air Force. During that time away, assistant coach Corey Holmes helped lead the team.
Tristan is a graduate of St. Joseph and will be coming home in August for a month before leaving for his next deployment in South Korea.
