NEWS

In his second season with the Winchester Royals, Zachary Carter currently leads the league with a .462 batting average and also has collected the most hits with 24.

Carter starting playing baseball for his church’s Little League team in Memphis, Tennessee, and has loved the game ever since.

“There was never a doubt in my mind that I couldn’t go to the next level, from high school to college and hopefully to the major leagues,” Carter said.

It hasn’t been an easy path. He started his collegiate career playing at the University of Memphis but quickly realized he wasn’t going to play much. Carter had to make a decision that was going to impact the rest of his career.

“I talked to Coach [Jonathan] Estes at Freed-Hardeman and he said they had a spot for me and I was definitely going to play,” Carter said. “When it comes down to it, I really wanted a good education, because you know I may not make it real far in baseball and then I have the rest of my life to worry about.”

Carter has been nothing short of successful since deciding to transfer to Freed-Hardeman. A two-hour drive on I-64 from Memphis, Freed-Hardeman is a small private Christian college in Henderson, Tennessee.

Carter played in his first full collegiate season this past year. The junior played in 53 games for the Lions, hitting .347 with 10 doubles and 29 RBI. Carter earned an honorable mention for the American Midwest Baseball team. Coach Estes was also named conference Coach of the Year after leading the Lions to their first American Midwest Conference regular-season championship.

The Lions ended their season with a loss to third-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan College in 11 innings in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament. They finished the season with a 37-16 record, winning their third regular-season conference title and winning a game at the national tournament for the first time in program history.

“I really enjoyed myself because I finally got to play a full season of collegiate baseball,” Carter said. “The team did well and it was just a great year with a great group of guys.”

Royals head coach Stu Richardson approved of Carter’s decision to transfer from Memphis to Freed-Hardeman.

“Zac played for Daren Schoenrock at the University of Memphis and I had played with Daren at Tennessee Tech,” Richardson said. “I thought it was a good move for him to go to a smaller school and be the main man. He was one of the only kids that started every game this year.”

Richardson had asked Carter, who hit .233 in 39 games last season, to return for a second season in Winchester immediately after their final game. “It helps playing in the league again and it helped getting a lot of reps this past season at school,” Carter said.

Carter has offered some advice to his younger teammates who haven’t played in the league before.

“It’s honestly a grind every night because you only have one off day a week,” Carter said. “Keep working hard and never give up if you want to make it to the next level.”

Carter already has the approval his coaching staff and the Winchester community.

“He’s working summer camp with me because the locals like him,” Richardson said. “You like to see good things happen to people like him because he works so hard.”

 

-Kimberlee Fucci