Staff report
SALISBURY — The Rowan-based Seager Select 12U baseball team is playing in high level tournaments this summer, sort of a younger version of the South Charlotte Panthers, and has won several events and has beaten some of the highest ranked teams in the country.
The players are from the classes of 2030, 2031 and 2032. They come from a lot of different towns in the Carolinas. Four are from Rowan County — Corry Hales, Oakley Kluttz, Graham Knight and Crue Seager, the son of long-time Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager.
Hales swatted a homer on Thursday. The 4-foot-11, 90-pound infielder is in the Class of 2031 and is the younger brother of American Legion player Corbin Hales as well as Cole Hales and Kary Hales, who were stars at Catawba College and were recognized on All-America teams.
Unlike dad Kyle and uncle Corey, the shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Crue Seager bats right-handed. He’s a 4-foot-8, 88-pound infielder, the smallest player on the team, but he has a textbook stance and swing and is hitting some balls a long way. He hit another homer on Thursday.
Crue is one of the youngest members of the team, Class of 2032, which means he’ll be in the sixth grade when school starts.
Kluttz (Class of 2032) and Knight (2031) also come from baseball families. Their dads (Jason Kluttz and Keith Knight) were standouts in the 1990s. Oakley’s sister, Lily, was the South Piedmont Conference and Rowan County Player of the Year for softball.
