Relief pitcher Hayden Stone, a key player on VU's first national championship team, makes the VandySports 100.
Honors and awards: 2014 Freshman All-American (first-team Perfect Game, second team Baseball America)
In the VU record book: Stone doesn't rank on any single-season or career charts.
Before VU: Was the 2013 TSSAA Player of the Year at Columbia Central, where he set school career marks for wins (26) and strikeouts (350). Also made first-team all-state in 2011.
Freshman (2014): Stone played a key role as a high-leverage long reliever on VU's 2014 national title team, ranking sixth on the squad in innings pitched. He threw 24 innings in Southeastern Conference play, with 32 strikeouts, seven walks, no hit batsmen and an 0.75 ERA, a 1-0 record and two saves. Was the winning pitcher in the national title-clinching game, throwing 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with four strikeouts against Virginia. Days before, Stone relieved Carson Fulmer and got VU out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a double-play ball, then, threw five more complete innings while allowing one earned run against Texas, that win vaulting VU into the CWS title series. Two weeks before, Stone threw six innings while giving up one unearned run in a 12-5 win over Stanford that sent the Commodores to Omaha. Picked up saves against South Carolina (3 1/3 scoreless innings, three strikeouts) and Missouri (three scoreless, five strikeouts). Picked up a save with a three-inning, eight-strikeout performance vs. Tennessee Tech.
Sophomore (2015): Stone appeared to hurt his arm in the season-opening series, and was limited to three appearances before undergoing Tommy John surgery in April.
Junior (2016): Stone came back from surgery, making 10 appearances (three starts) before shutting his season down in April due to arm troubles. Picked up two saves in two games vs. Stanford in an early-March series before transitioning to the rotation, where he had a 6.39 ERA over four SEC appearances (three starts) spanning 12 2/3 innings.
Post-VU: Stone retired from baseball before his senior year and didn't pursue a pro career.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: Without Stone, I don't think VU wins it all in 2014, and probably doesn't get to the CWS final. Between three elimination games (Stanford, Texas and Virginia), he threw 13 1/3 innings of one-earned-run baseball. Relief contributions don't get much bigger than that. He had a slider that's on the short list of most un-hittable pitches thrown by Commodores during the Tim Corbin era. Unfortunately, it was the strain that pitch placed on his elbow that probably did him in.
It's hard to rank Stone higher because of the brevity of his career, but contributing to winning is the most important thing (to the best of your circumstances and control), and especially making huge contributions to winning championships, trumps everything on this list. At the pinnacle of his career according to those criteria, Stone may have done that job better than anyone on this list.
