« Baseball 2019

Justin Hayes

School
Norfolk State University
Position
Outfield
Major
Business Management

Classroom

Justin Hayes has a 3.3 GPA and majors in business management. He is on pace to graduate this year. Hayes was a member of the 2018 MEAC All-Academic Team, as well as being a member of NSU’s Dean’s List, and he has been on the NSU Athletics Director’s AD Honor Roll for every semester (five) he has attended NSU. Prior to NSU, he attended Old Dominion for two years and was a member of the Conference USA Academic Honor Roll twice.

Character

Hayes has excelled at leading the team as he was named the Spartans’ lone captain for 2018-19 in August of 2018. He leads the team daily in warm-ups, stretching and prayer. He readily takes young players under his wing and teaches them the Spartan way. He is well-respected by coaches, administrators, university personnel, teammates and students.

Community

Hayes is very active both on campus and in his local community of the southeastern Virginia area. He participated in the Portsmouth Baptist Association’s Operation In-As-Much, collecting quarters and coins to help the homeless and community shelters with laundry needs. In support of Children’s Mission Day, Hayes is currently collecting items such as toothbrushes, shampoo, lotion, socks, pajamas, underwear, bed linen, etc. for children in foster care. This project is led by Portsmouth Department of Social Services.

With his high school’s athletic director at Western Branch, Hayes has helped build showcase boxes that shipped to Cooperstown, N.Y. to hold the Cooperstown Field of Dreams bats and balls. Hayes has also volunteered for Unity in the Community, a faith based initiative in the nearby Chesapeake community. He walked in the parade and helped hand out school supplies to needy students in the Chesapeake community. He has assisted with freshmen dorm move-in day at NSU and also ran skills camps while playing with his summer baseball team, the Strasburg (Va.) Express.

Competition

In 2018, Hayes was named a second-team American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-East Region honoree. He also earned first-team All-MEAC honors and All-State honors for Virginia. One of, if not the best, lead-off men in the MEAC, Hayes led the MEAC with 28 stolen bases last season. Nationally, he ranked seventh in Division I in steals per game (0.62) and 20th in total stolen bases. He batted .347, which ranked third in the conference, and was fifth with a .438 on-base percentage. Hayes finished the 2018 season with a team-high 35 runs scored, 58 hits (tied for first on the team) and with eight doubles, one home run and 12 RBI. He was twice named the MEAC Player of the Week.