Living the dream: Mercer’s Treyson Hughes and Tanner Hall

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Over recent years, Houston County baseball fans have raved about the success of their favorite local bullpen. The Houston County community has produced numerous collegiate baseball players as well, with several of those players going on to play within the Major Leagues.

For many athletes, playing professionally is among their biggest dreams. For others, the dreams become endless. When does an athlete know to hang it up? How long does it take for young athletes to decide that they no longer live their “biggest dream?”

What causes athletes to pivot and create new fulfillments? In this series of the “Living the dream” edition, you will read about familiar names. Why? A couple of Houston County natives are currently “living the dream.”

In the last edition, I broke down Cameron Jones and Chandler Dawson from Georgia State. This week’s “living the dream” edition will showcase Tanner Hall and Treyson Hughes of Mercer University.

Though they are both collegiate baseball players, the dream is still alive. Tanner Hall is a graduate student and Treyson Hughes is a rising second-year athlete, both of which attend Mercer University in Macon. Tanner Hall is the left-handed pitcher from Warner Robins. Tanner is a graduate student who spent some time on the coast at Armstrong Atlantic State University (now Georgia Southern).

The 6’ tall, 210-pound mound commander was a member of the Houston County Bears while in high school. During his high school career, Hall was coached under Jason Brett, winning two GHSA state titles at Houston County High School and was awarded Georgia Dugout State Player of the Year in 2016. He was crowned state champion in 2014 and again in 2016.

While at Mercer, Hall has an 11-8 overall record, and in 2022, he had a record of 5-4. Hall struck out many batters in his nine games of pitching in 2022. On March 5 against UNC-Asheville, he had six strikeouts.

Treyson Hughes is a right-handed outfielder from “War-Town.” The 6’3” rising sophomore slugged .317 from the plate in 55 starts, while Mercer won 40 games in 2022. Hughes’ first homer came against HBCU powerhouse FAMU in a 15-2 win at home.

In 2022, he recorded 14 homers. Alongside a stellar inaugural collegiate season, Hughes became the lone SoCon honoree for first team freshman All-American.

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) awarded Treyson Hughes as a member of the NCBWA Freshman All-American team. Hughes had phenomenal season highs in hits, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted-in and runs scored.

Hughes recorded four hits on May 8 against Western Carolina. On May 10, Hughes recorded five runs batted-in and two homers against Georgia State. On April 27, Treyson Hughes scored three runs against Jacksonville State. Lastly, Hughes recorded a triple and a double on consecutive days in late May against Samford and University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

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