By Morgan Widdifield
LoCoSports Copy Editor
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Purcellville (February 1, 2016) — Loudoun Valley High School senior Hunter Gore has signed to continue his baseball career at Liberty University beginning in the 2016-2017 academic year.
“Everybody’s dream is to play a Division I sport, and to be able to play at a top-ranked school is pretty exciting,” the 6-foot-4 Gore said. “Talking with coach Toman, they’re planning for me coming in and competing for the starting spot right away. They’re looking forward to me being a middle-of-the-lineup hitter.”
Gore will join fellow Loudoun Valley teammates Jack DeGroat (2015), Sam Urban (2015) and Trey McDyre (2016) in Lynchburg next fall. The four of them plan to help the Division I Flames build on their 33-23 record in the spring of 2015.
With the VHSL 3A state semifinals and finals taking place at Liberty, the Flames have been able to grab four student-athletes off the 2014 3A state champion and 2015 3A state runner-up Viking squad.
“Having three Loudoun Valley teammates at Liberty will make the transition into the real world a lot easier,” said Gore who plays travel for Stars Baseball. “It’s easier to go play ball because you know somebody you’ve been playing with for years is going to be there like they have before. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The Lovettsville-native hopes to continue the legacy of successful baseball at Loudoun Valley. After back-to-back VHSL 3A state final appearances, Gore believes that the Viking squad has enough to make it a three-peat to end his senior year with two — not one — rings on his fingers.
“My expectations are always high. I think we’re going to go back to the state championship, and I think we’re going to win it. We have eleven returning seniors: we’re all hard working and we’ve all been playing with each other since Little League and we all know how to push each other to our limits,” Gore said. “Those young pitchers are going to have to step up and show us what they’ve got. This is also when the offense is going to have show up; we’re going to have to score more runs than last year because we’re not going to have those record-breaking scoreless innings.”
