FRANKLIN, VA (WTKR)- Gavin Tomlin grew up in Southampton County, a stone's throw away from Paul D. Camp Community College in Franklin.
"Not much," Tomlin said regarding what he knew about the school growing up. "I had a couple guys from my high school come here before me and that was pretty much it."
Now Tomlin suits up for the school's baseball team as a pitcher, a program in the midst of its sixth season. Daniel Rollins is in his fourth year as the squad's head coach. He came into the job determined to put the Hurricanes on the radar.
"I told the president and the athletic director when I got hired, 'I didn't come here to be mediocre,'" Rollins recalled. "I want to run this at a very high level."
The head coach preaches attitude, approach and accountability. It's a formula that has been working, especially lately. Last week saw the Hurricanes storm to the NJCAA Region 10 championship, topping the number one team in the country on its way to the crown and putting up 31 runs in the title game.
"We knocked off the number one team in the country to do that," Rollins pointed out. "It's the first time being ranked in the top 15 in the country."
"Being a hometown guy, there's not a lot of us around here," added Tomlin. "It means a lot to be able to take this team to the next level."
Junior college programs put in a lot of work that goes far beyond the field. Not only are they charged with getting themselves ready to play, but players and coaches also hit the ground hard for fund-raising efforts, academics and grounds crew work on the field, just to name a few of the added responsibilities.
"We do a couple fundraisers for Virginia Tech," said sophomore outfielder Joseph Eichelberger. "We just did one this past weekend for Kevin Hart, so we do a lot of stuff in the community."
"We have to wear a lot of hats," added Rollins. "We do have to fund raise, we do have to make sure that these guys take care of their business in the classroom."
"It takes a lot out of all of us, even the coaches," Tomlin noted. "We're doing stuff every weekend if we don't have a game in the fall just to raise money to be able to go and travel on the weekends."
As for between the lines, the work during the 2023 season isn't done. This weekend Camp will host the Mid-Atlantic District championship, where the Hurricanes will face Prince George's from Maryland in a best-of-three set. A victory would see them advance to the eight-team NJCAA World Series in Greenville, Tennessee.
"It would mean a lot," Eichelberger said. "We need that. We're trying to get to Tennessee and win that championship."
"I want this for them just as much as I want it for anybody else," Rollins added. "It would mean the world to have that shot to go to Greenville and be able to potentially bring a national championship back home to Franklin."
"That's one reason I did want to come here is to put this team, this school on the map, definitely helping them get more recruits coming in," Tomlin said. "It just means everything."
Paul D. Camp and Prince George's open their series on Friday at 11:00 AM on the Hurricanes' home field.
