Former West Bladen High School baseball players, from left, Brady Durden, Garrett Dunham and Hunter Smith have played this summer with the Hope Mills Rockfish.
Photos courtesy Cora Carpenter | IG: cc._.photography
HOPE MILLS — Once high school teammates, three former West Bladen baseball players have spent the summer together working on their game while playing for the Hope Mills Rockfish.
Garrett Dunham, Brady Durden and Hunter Smith each took a different route to play with Hope Mills, but the trio believes the experience will help them with their college baseball careers.
The Rockfish are a member of the Old North State League, a summer collegiate wood bat league that covers from the Outer Banks in the east to Danville, Virginia, in the north and as far west as Hendersonville. The league’s purpose is to give collegiate baseball players and those making the jump from high school to the next level an opportunity to continue to play.
“It’s definitely exposed me to better competition,” said Dunham, who helped West Bladen win the Southeastern 2-A Conference championship in May. “As far as the pitching, it’s a lot more consistent than high school. It has been a really good way to prepare for the college level.”
Through games of July 9, Dunham has a .409 batting average with three doubles and 6 runs batted in, according to GameChanger. Smith is batting .375 with a pair of home runs and nine RBIs. Durden is batting .176 with a double and pair of runs driven in. Each player has seen limited duty on the mound with Durden’s 12.2 innings pitched leading the way, according to GameChanger.
The Rockfish began its season May 30 and had 36 games scheduled over 51 days, although inclement weather has canceled a few games this season. The regular season is set to end July 19. Hope Mills, with a 6-18 record through July 9, is not expected to make the ONSL playoffs.
“We really don’t have much room for practices,” said Durden, who also was a key member of the Knights’ 2025 championship season. “We have like two weeks of playing games and then two days off. It’s a lot different than high school. You get to see it from a college perspective. It’s no cupcake walk. You’ve got to compete against all these other guys. I like it.”
Smith, a 2023 West Bladen graduate, has played summer baseball in the past and spent last season as an outfielder at Southeastern Community College in Whiteville. He played with the Rockfish when the team was named the Fayetteville Chutes.
“It helps to keep in the swing of things and face live pitching,” Smith said. “You’re getting to play against some people that might be better competition and it gets you one step ahead of everybody to see higher (velocity) pitching and getting more consistent (repetitions) in the outfield.”
Smith graduated from West Bladen in 2023. He missed the 2024 season at Southeastern after being injured in a vehicle accident, but returned to play for the Rams in 2025. He has another year of junior college eligibility.
Playing with the Hope Mills team was a natural fit for Smith after playing the Chutes.
“It’s a local option,” Smith said. “It’s one of the closer teams to the house and I know a bunch of guys that have been on the team before.”
Durden was looking for a team to play with over the summer as he seeks an opportunity to play collegiately, most likely at the junior college level.
“A couple of my buddies I played ball with are on the team so we contacted them and I got recruited,” Durden said. “So, I could have some fun playing ball.
“I’ve had a couple of (colleges) talk to me. I’m thinking more of a college close by and the JUCO route and just grow and get better. Then, maybe, going to a four-year school.”
Dunham has, by far, the most interesting story about how he wound up playing for Hope Mills this summer. It ties in to a connection to the Savannah Bananas, a barnstorming baseball team that focuses on entertainment and routinely sells out major league parks and college football stadiums.
Dunham, who has signed to play baseball at Brunswick Community College, is friends with Dakota McFadden, who plays for the Firefighters, one of a handful of Bananas’ opponents. McFadden had coached Dunham in travel baseball.
“He knew that I was looking for a collegiate league to play in and he reached out to (the Rockfish),” Dunham said. “He told me I needed to reach out to the owner of the Rockfish, send my information and see if I could play with them. It just kind of worked out for me.”
Even though the Rockfish hasn’t won many games this summer, the three former West Bladen players have used the time to work on their game and prepare for what lies ahead.
“This summer was about getting my feet in the water by facing college competition,” Dunham said. “I want to win games, but it was more to improve myself and learn from these guys that are around me. Even though we’re not having that much (team) success, we still have guys on our team that know a lot about the game.”
The Rockfish play at Hope Mills Municipal Park located at 5766 Rockfish Road.
Here are the remaining home games:
Friday, July 11, 6 p.m., Jacksonville Ospreys
Saturday, July 12, 6 p.m., Laurinburg Highland Hooligans
Sunday, July 13, 3 p.m., Shallotte Shallywags (doubleheader)
Saturday, July 19, 6 p.m., Shallotte Shallywags
Sonny Jones can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @FOSonnyJones.