BELTON—It was the summer of 2022. And Ben Hamilton was on a mission.
With him, both at home in Killeen, Texas and in his dorm room at Ohio University, was a calendar that served a purpose far beyond simply telling of the day and holidays that were ahead. It was a source of constant motivation for Hamilton summed up in four words that formed a simplistic, yet powerful goal: Make the day count.
“Every day, once the day was over with, I would check off the date and write in little words, ‘I made the day count’,” remembers Hamilton, who committed to the UMHB baseball program on July 9.
His is a story of perseverance and beating the odds. Of pursuing a dream at all costs, and refusing to quit when adversity—both internal and external—crossed his path.
In the fall of 2022, Hamilton was at Ohio on a music scholarship, a Central Texas native who was far from home and unrelenting on his dream to play Division I college baseball. It was a game he loved that had, at times, not loved him back, yet his passion was evident to everyone who saw his intense strength training and desire for improvement. When he left Killeen to head back to Ohio for his junior year, he was still not part of the Bobcats’ baseball program. But he made it clear to his mom that that was soon to change.
“I said, ‘Come next year, I will be on that team,’” Hamilton recalls.
Hamilton still remembers the day when he first crossed paths with baseball, and more specifically, hitting. He and his dad were at Putt-Putt in Killeen, and his dad stepped into the batting cage. As he began to hit, a crowd started to form, watching him connect on pitch after pitch. The fact that he was a switch hitter only made it more intriguing, says Hamilton, who was five years old at the time. Not long after, his dad asked him and his older sister about their own sports interests, and while Ben’s immediate response was football, it didn’t take much to convince him to give baseball a try.
He soon found out that baseball, amongst other life lessons, taught humility in a very clear way.
“I couldn’t swing a bat to save my life,” he said recently with a laugh. “But baseball is such a humbling sport and it’s a developmental sport. So I kept working. By the time I came out of Little League, I was named as one of the best players to ever come out of there.”
Then came high school, as he looked to continue his remarkable success on the diamond at Shoemaker High School. He stood at just 5-foot-9, 140 pounds, but had the skill set of a five-tool player; exceptional speed, a strong arm in the outfield, and a knack for hitting that had come a long way since his days as a young little leaguer. A well-rounded individual, Hamilton was also part of Shoemaker’s marching band, with music being another of his passions in which he showed great development. But as both of those extracurricular activities yielded successes, Hamilton struggled through his freshman year academically.
“I was not very hot when it came to grade-point average,” Hamilton remembers. “I remember right before I was getting ready to be promoted to varsity [baseball], I was academically ineligible. It was a feeling of ‘I was right there, all I had to do was finish one more assignment.’ During that summer, I thought, ‘I’m sick and tired of living a life of ‘almost’. I need to just go do it.”
His freshman year also brought about the arrival of a new baseball coaching staff to Shoemaker, which brought about a new program culture and different expectations. While Hamilton didn’t know any different—it was his first year of high school baseball—there was nothing to look up to. No prior All-District or All-State players coached by this staff, no prior district titles to serve as motivation, no tradition of excellence established by these coaches. So Hamilton sought to be a part of creating that kind of tradition at Shoemaker, and eligible for varsity as a sophomore, he didn’t want to miss that chance. Perhaps so much so that he got inside his own head, leading to nerves and a sense of anxiety as he prepared for his first varsity start. Things unraveled before they even began. “The pressure got to me,” Hamilton notes.
He had the yips—essentially a lack of ability to control the baseball when throwing due to performance anxiety—in pregame warmups, and he felt the same way when swinging the bat. Something was off. He dropped two routine fly balls in right field, before being pulled from the game.
“I had to fight my way back onto the field for the rest of that season,” said Hamilton, who ended up being Shoemaker’s leadoff hitter by the time the season came to a close.
He refused to let a bad start to the season take control. In order to get back in the lineup, he committed to doing 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 body squats every night, building a work ethic that has only strengthened as he heads into his first year at UMHB. He wanted to take baseball more seriously, and it showed by the time his junior season rolled around. But a new coaching staff also came in, again causing a significant change in the program.
Within a week of the start of practice for the 2019 season, Hamilton found himself out of the lineup again, this time the unfortunate result of an injury. Due to miscommunication, while running for a fly ball in the outfield, Hamilton slid to avoid a collision with a teammate, who was also sprinting towards the ball. But the teammate’s cleats landed on top of Hamilton, sidelining him for two weeks with a leg injury that required 32 stitches. When he returned, Shoemaker was already into district play.
“I was able to improve throughout that season,” Hamilton said. “But we were 1-23 that season and winless in district. I remember at that end-of-season awards ceremony, I had received Second-Team All-District, Most Improved, and Golden Glove, but it was so bittersweet with our record being what it was.”
Committed to changing that record for the better as a senior in 2020, Hamilton shifted his focus forwards, aiming to be the leader the Shoemaker program desperately needed. But at that point, playing collegiately wasn’t at the front of his mind, especially considering his GPA sat at 1.7 and his 5-9, 155-pound frame. Nonetheless, a letter arrived from the University of Missouri a few days after his junior year came to a close.
“I was thinking, ‘What Division I program in the world would want me?’ My GPA wasn’t even good enough to get into trade school. But I remember my dad saying, ‘Well, maybe it’s a slim chance, but it’s an opportunity that’s right there for you.’ So I prayed for strength and guidance throughout my journey, and I definitely believe that if I had a chance, I was going to give it everything I had in my last year [of high school].”
It was at that point that Hamilton made his first connection with UMHB, meeting Adam Froeschl, who played baseball for The Cru from 2006-2008. Froeschl had come to Shoemaker as the head coach, and immediately, Hamilton what a great leader he and the Shoemaker program now had. Froeschl was the type of coach who could take a player from being good to great in a short span of time.
“From the very moment I shook his hand, he gave that same aura that comes from UMHB. High-quality in everything that you do. The Lord had answered my prayer of ‘Please send somebody who will increase my development.’ Within about a week of summer workouts, everything had changed. And I’m saying to myself, ‘Where have you been throughout my entire four years?’” Hamilton said with a laugh.
By the time his senior year began, more and more college programs were expressing interest, including Division I Ohio University. After a summer spent tirelessly aiming to improve, his metrics steadily rose, most notably at a fall camp in Dallas with an Ohio coach present. For the first time in his life, Hamilton threw 90 miles an hour. “Once you start seeing results from your hard work, it becomes addicting. You don’t want to stop.”
Of course, Hamilton barely had a chance to get on the field as a senior, playing just 13 games, before Covid shut down the remainder of what had the makings of being Shoemaker’s first winning season since 2013. But while it seemed one door after another closed during his time in high school—from academic ineligibility to anxiety to injuries to a worldwide pandemic—Ohio University was opening Hamilton’s path to the future. After being invited to one of the baseball program’s yearly prospect camps on Ohio’s campus and performing well, he left in a great position for an opportunity to join the program the following year. While in Athens County, he connected with one of the university’s leading music professors, considering his background with marching band and music. He put forth a strong tryout for the music professor, and returned home to Texas to find an email from Ohio’s music department not long after.
“The music department had offered me a scholarship,” Hamilton remembers. “It felt like my dream had finally come true. I thought, ‘Wow, the hard work actually paid off, and I’m really starting to see it right now. And I don’t want to stop. I want to be a role model for those that are in Killeen that want to make it out too.’”
In truth, that was just the beginning for Hamilton. The effects of Covid meant that all of his classes were taken online during the 2020-21 academic year, keeping him in Killeen and delaying what he hoped would be his college baseball debut. But with the same level of effort in which he had pressed towards his dream of reaching the college level, he took on the challenge of conducting his freshman year 1,232 miles from his college campus. As for baseball, he found himself in a holding pattern, with no clear word from the Ohio coaching staff as to when he would be able to report to campus. “Coach had just told me, ‘Keep working on your game and when your time comes, we’re going to call for you,” said Hamilton.
He did just that, with a disciplined daily schedule that saw him make the most with the resources he had available, lifting weights in his garage, and hitting off the tee as often as possible. Just because he wasn’t on campus was no excuse not to train like he was already on the roster. But a few days before Thanksgiving, a life-altering moment came at Hamilton as quick as a 90-mile-an-hour fastball..
“I remember I was finishing class and my pops came in and just sat there and watched. It was one of the rare times where he said, ‘Son, I’m proud of you.’ That definitely meant something, because it hit different when he said it. We were laughing and cracking jokes and everything. He walked out of the room, and 30 seconds later he was on the floor suffering from a stroke.”
The immediate moments afterwards were a whirlwind for Hamilton, who was distraught, and knew at the same time he needed to take quick action. He and his younger sister were the only ones in the house at the time, and that only intensified the situation for the young college freshman. While his dad reached the hospital safely and miraculously made a full recovery, the trauma of that experience, particularly the suddenness and gravity of it, placed a heavy weight upon Hamilton’s shoulders in the days that followed.
“In that moment, when he fell and they had to take him to the hospital, it was almost like, ‘What do I do from here?’ The feeling of defeat felt so bad that I literally sat in my room for a week and did not come out. And one day, I just fell to my knees and started praying as I was crying because of the pain of that. It was so traumatic. He literally almost passed away in my arms.”
He relied on the power of his faith and family to carry him through a moment of adversity far bigger than baseball. The feeling of being lost, wandering aimlessly with no direction, soon faded, as he took on a more determined mindset. “I thought, ‘This is all part of an incredible testimonial story,’’’ Hamilton recalls. It could be said that it was at this point that his mentality of ‘Make every day count’ took root in his life, having seen firsthand that nothing can be taken for granted.
“I worked two jobs, was a full-time online student, and was still finding a way to do some sort of baseball training throughout the week. Day in and day out, exhaustion is an understatement. But I watched my parents give their all for myself and my siblings. It was time for me to step up and do the same thing.”
He sustained that schedule for the majority of the next year before leaving for his first year on campus at Ohio. Having pushed through the uncertainty of Covid and the trauma of his father’s near-fatal stroke, things seemed to be looking up for Hamilton as his dreams of a college baseball career remained intact. Upon arrival, those took another hard hit. The first place he went was the baseball facility, as Ohio’s fall individual sessions were taking place. He knew he’d have to walk-on to make the team, but what he did not know was that the coach who had primarily recruited him prior to Covid, was no longer with the program. He found that out while sitting in the baseball facility, suddenly unsure of his chances to earn a roster spot.
“I had no knowledge of the transfer portal being a thing,” said Hamilton. “I thought once you were at a school, that’s where you had to stay. I remember [the head coach] saying, ‘We’re not hosting any walk-on tryouts this year,’ and I thought, ‘You know what? That’s alright. I’m just gonna keep going.’”
With almost zero baseball facilities in the area—with the exception of Ohio’s, whose access was limited to only players in the program —Hamilton once again made do with what he had. He attacked the weight room daily, gaining considerable muscle, while also improving his overall speed and athleticism. “I remember coming back, and my mom was like, ‘What in the world happened to you?’ Because I was a skinny guy, but then I came back and I was filling up my shirts.” It was through this time that his ‘Make every day count’ calendar came into play, as he left Central Texas for his junior year ready to make a statement. He got that opportunity at walk-on tryouts just a short time after his arrival back on campus.
Becoming a walk-on is no easy task. Typically, college teams have only two or three walk-on spots available, with often over 100 prospective players trying out. They’re not on athletic scholarships, and usually, the first players to get cut when the roster is trimmed down ahead of the season. And there are very few chances to actually prove yourself as a walk-on. Even with all of this considered, Hamilton stepped onto the field poised and collected, reliant on his years of preparation. He waited two years for a chance to tryout, and didn’t let the opportunity pass him by.
The pro-style workout saw the outfielders go first, starting with fielding and throwing followed by a hitting session. After demonstrating his arm strength by throwing straight from right field to third base, Hamilton stepped to the plate. Of the 20 pitches he saw, nine went for home runs. The Ohio coaches were both surprised and impressed to have seemingly found such a diamond in the rough. “Coach Justin Sumner told me, ‘You’re good enough to play Division I baseball without question, but how come you didn’t go to junior college?’” Junior college is typically the place where undersized and overlooked talent plays for a season or two, and across the country, JUCOs are heavily recruited, from SEC powerhouses to top D-III programs to MLB organizations. But the simple answer in Hamilton’s case was he had no idea that was even a real option. A few JUCOs had approached him out of high school, but for one reason or another, none seriously entered the recruiting picture for him.
Regardless, the Ohio coaches liked what they saw. Hamilton worked out in individual sessions a few more times during the fall, continuing to showcase his power at the plate as the coaching staff looked on. Not long after, a call came from head coach Craig Moore.
“He called me and said, ‘Congratulations, you made the team,’” Hamilton said. “But he also told me that as a walk-on, your roster spot is not guaranteed. You can only have 35 guys on the roster in Division I, and there were 37. I was the last guy on there as the most recent addition to the team, so I had to beat out two other guys to be that last 35th man.”
As it turned out, one player entered the transfer portal and another stepped away from baseball, putting Hamilton on the roster for the 2023 season.
“With me being that 35th man, I was like, ‘Thank you Jesus. After everything you’ve brought me through, I have finally gotten here.’ I remember thinking to myself, ‘I don’t have any fear going down this unfamiliar path, because typically they have the greatest stories to tell.’”
Hamilton recognized the power of his testimony. The fact that, despite the adversity he had faced both on and off the field, God led him to a Division I baseball opportunity. He always hoped his story might inspire others who were battling through hardship of their own, and in December 2022, shortly after receiving word that he was officially on Ohio’s roster, he made a post on TikTok recapping his journey up to that point. It went viral, and today, has over 70,000 views.
“I thought, ‘Wow. I was really able to positively impact a lot of people,’” Hamilton recalled. “Because you never know. Somebody out there might be going through something similar to that, or even worse, and they just need to see a demonstration of what it’s like to overcome in the face of opposition. Through a lifetime of unimaginable circumstances and controversy, the Lord still made a way for me.”
Hamilton spent the entirety of the 2023 season on the Bobcats’ roster, though he did not see game action. That was to be expected to some degree, considering Hamilton had only been part of the program for a few months when the season began. But there was optimism in his mind as he looked ahead to his senior year in 2024, confident that continued improvement and familiarity with the program would pay off, resulting in playing time. That all changed in a split-second, though, in a summer league game, as he raced down the first-base line after hitting a soft ground ball, attempting to beat out the throw.
“I hyperextended my knee trying to lunge at the base,” Hamilton noted. “I didn’t hear a pop, but instantly, I had excruciating pain in my knee. I just thought, ‘Please tell me I didn’t tear a ligament.’ I honestly thought my career might be over [at that point].”
Fortunately, he did not tear any ligaments or muscles on the play, but he was sidelined for a considerable amount of time. He continued his summer workouts with the full intent of being ready to go by the time fall practice arrived at Ohio. For the most part, his knee felt healthy by September, but he also sensed his limited remaining time on the baseball field. During a 14-inning scrimmage midway through the fall, Hamilton didn’t see any action. That’s when he knew he likely wouldn’t be carried over to the spring roster. “It was hard for me to accept that fact…it really was,” said Hamilton.
But he was also focused on getting his degree from Ohio, something he had worked just as hard for through all the struggles over the previous four years. Set to graduate in the spring, he remained on campus, helping broadcast Ohio’s baseball games, providing commentary and insight alongside the play-by-play announcer. As someone who naturally loved being part of a team environment, Hamilton committed to both his coaches and teammates at the end of the fall that he would support them however he could during the spring. Broadcasting provided that avenue.
As he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Contemporary Music and Digital Instruments from Ohio University, Hamilton still had the urge to play college baseball. After all he went through to make the Ohio team, his collegiate stat line remained blank, having seen no game action. So he put his name into the transfer portal, and returned home after graduation, seeking a chance to add another chapter to his lengthy journey through baseball and life.
It was mid-summer when he heard from Nate Vasquez, a Copperas Cove native and long-time friend who played three years at Emory & Henry College. Vasquez had recently opted to return to Central Texas, committing to UMHB. When Vasquez found out Hamilton was looking to continue playing college baseball, he offered to speak to UMHB head coach Mike Stawski on Hamilton’s behalf. Hamilton was intrigued by a potential opportunity in Belton. He hadn’t considered UMHB as an option out of high school, but in the years that followed, became aware of the university’s commitment to athletic excellence.
“I was like,’ Let me check it out,’ because I’ve seen they’ve had a winning program, they’re sharp in everything that they do, and everybody I’ve been around that came from that school has made me so much better,’” Hamilton said. “So I emailed Coach Stawski, let him know where I was coming from, and asked about possibly earning a roster spot at UMHB.”
That led to a phone call from Stawski, and soon after, a campus visit. The setup of the campus was impressive to Hamilton, and so were the athletic facilities. Right then and there, standing on UMHB’s campus, he made up his mind; he wanted to be part of The Cru.
“I thought, ‘This is a place I want to call home.’ I called Coach Stawski a couple days later, and told him I wanted to come to UMHB. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt like I wanted to be somewhere. At this point in my career and life, I want to go somewhere I’m wanted.”
As he enters the next phase of his baseball career with The Cru, Hamilton hopes his story continues to serve as an inspiration to those chasing big dreams, despite battling difficult circumstances. He has high expectations for himself at UMHB, ready to contribute in whatever role he is asked to play, as preparations begin for the 2025 season. His “humble beginnings” continually drive him towards success, something that has never really changed through both the highs and lows. He is ready for whatever comes next, thankful for the chance to step on the field for a college team once again. Thankful for the chance to track down another high fly ball in right field. The chance to send another pitch over the outfield wall.
“Mikelle Mason, my brother in arms who plays at Tuskegee University, was the one who was really training with me through the entire process,” Hamilton said. “He was giving me encouragement every single day, even when it looked like there was absolutely nothing there. He said, ‘You have an opportunity to build this from scratch. I’ve known you since little league, and you always had that stubborn spirit of ‘I’m going to make it out of here.”’ I wasn’t going to stay in Killeen and just be another statistic. That wasn’t going to happen. Not with me.
“It’s always amazing to lift up others as you climb. I remember thinking, ‘I will be able to come to a place where I’m wanted, and not only be an inspiration to the people in the Bell County area, but also play in front of my parents. That was the vision I had whenever I stepped on campus at UMHB.
“I honestly can’t wait to see how it unfolds in the near future. I really can’t. I know for a fact that Jesus Christ gave me that vision. From the moment I stepped on campus, to the moment I had that conversation with Coach Stawski, from training with Coach Froeschl, to having a lifetime friend be my teammate, I know for sure that this is a vision. And that’s what made me make my commitment to UMHB.”
