He strode toward the plate, a California schoolboy with a resolute look and a chance to win the game. But before he stepped in, Matt Hobgood looked skyward, knelt and, without a word, wrote his late father's initials in the dirt.
R ... L ... H.
Then he waggled his bat, swung from the heels and drove the first pitch 400 feet for a home run.
The crowd went nuts. Circling the bases, Hobgood raised both arms toward heaven and whispered, Thanks, Pops.
For the first 18 years, Matt Hobgood's life has played out like a movie. Born with a rare blood infection, he nearly died on the spot. At 14, his dad died of colon cancer, leaving behind the youngster along with his mother and four sisters.
Two weeks ago, in his last game at Norco (Calif.) High, Hobgood hit the walk-off moonshot, a salute to his father. And Tuesday, the Orioles made Hobgood, the nation's leading high school home run hitter, their No. 1 draft pick. As a pitcher.
A fastball clocked at faster than 98 mph settled that.
Wednesday found Hobgood driving his Ford F-150 pickup to school wearing an Orioles cap he had just bought at the mall. He would have driven clear to Camden Yards, if asked.
"I'd like to get to the pros as quick as I can and help the O's start kicking butt in the American League East," he said. "Striking out A-Rod would be a nice way to start."
Brash talk for a kid who still has braces on his teeth. But Hobgood isn't one to make idle, ego-driven boasts, those who know him say. Off the field, he is selfless and humble, grounded in an old-school morality and possessing a maturity born of one thrust into manhood at an early age.
On the field? Look again.
"When Matt goes out there, it's to take you down," said D.J. Wood, his best friend.
The Orioles know what they're getting.
"Why should we draft you?" amateur scouting director Joe Jordan asked the 6-foot-4, 245-pound right-hander during a sit-down last week.
"Because I hate losing more than I like winning," Hobgood said.
Away from baseball, he's unabashedly polite, a throwback to a different era. Hobgood once asked a girl's father for permission to take her to the homecoming dance. At school, he is fiercely protective of his three younger sisters.
"Any guy who wants to date one of the Hobgoods knows he has to go through Matt," Wood said. "When it comes to family, you don't mess with him."
