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Posted Saturday, Jun. 11, 2011 Share this story

Star-Telegram Baseball Super Teams

By: By Drew Davison

At 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, Hurst L.D. Bell catcher Hunter Lockwood might not look like the prototypical power hitter. But, with his quick hands and bat speed, Lockwood has little trouble sending balls to faraway places.

"I might be small in stature, but I've got a big attitude and swing a big stick," Lockwood said.

He certainly does. Lockwood finished the regular season with an area-best 16 home runs. In addition to his homers, he had a .481 average (50-of-104), 11 doubles, a triple and 46 RBIs in leading the Blue Raiders to the District 5-5A title.

Defensively, Lockwood had a .977 fielding percentage, and helped guide the pitching staff to a 3.02 ERA.

Lockwood is the Star-Telegram Super Team Player of the Year.

"There's no way I could have thought I'd hit 16 home runs, so it turned out to be a pretty good season," Lockwood said. "And being able to end our season with a district title and making our school's deepest playoff run is something we always dreamed about. It's nice to leave as the best team at Bell."

Lockwood leaves as one of the best players at Bell, too.

Coach Paul Gibson doesn't remember coaching a player with as much power potential as Lockwood. The only player he can compare him to is Ryan Roberts, the former Bell infielder now with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

But Gibson still gives the power edge to Lockwood over Roberts.

"He's got more than anybody I've ever coached," Gibson said. "He's got a strong lower half, and just tremendous, tremendous bat speed. He's a special player and they only come around every so often."

Or, as teammate Brad Adams said, Lockwood is a "machine" at the plate.

"Anything he hits goes a long ways, or the guy who gets in front of the ball is going to get hurt," Adams said.

Now, Lockwood faces a decision whether to play college baseball at Oklahoma or sign a professional contract with the Los Angeles Angels, who drafted him in the 17th round.

"It all depends," Lockwood said. "It's going to come down to if the pro contract is worth more than going to OU."

Regardless of his next step, Lockwood has certainly left his mark at Bell. He played on varsity for four years, and starred on the best team in school history.

He hit an inside-the-park home run in a district-clinching 2-1 victory over Colleyville Heritage on April 22. In fact, Lockwood went deep in the Blue Raiders' final three games of the regular season en route to securing the district title.

"I enjoyed my teammates, and I enjoyed coach Gibson and all the coaches," Lockwood said. "They helped me mature, not only as a baseball player but also as a person."