Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2015
- Class:
- 1970
When Jack Cook moved from Huntington High School to take the Marshall baseball coaching job in 1967, he didn’t have to look far to find one of his most important early recruits. Huntington had won state championships in 1964 and 1966, and a big reason was pitcher Carl Hewlett, who quickly joined his coach at Marshall. Hewlett had hit a home run in his very first high school at-bat for Cook, then pitched the team to a win over Ironton in his second high school game. He had played Little League baseball in Huntington for Marshall Hall of Famer Roy Straight.
In the era when freshmen were ineligible to play for the varsity teams, Hewlett shut out Ohio State as a member of the Marshall freshman squad. As a sophomore, in his first game for the varsity he threw a no-hitter against Concord College. For the 1968 season, he posted a 4-0 record with a 2.30 ERA as Marshall turned in an 18-7 campaign. In 1969, he threw three complete games with a 2.88 ERA. By the time his career was complete following the 1970 season he had gone 14-6 over 161 innings of work with a 3.29 ERA as Marshall turned in three consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 20 years.
Hewlett was then chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 44th round of the Major League Baseball Draft and played two years in the Pittsburgh organization, going 5-3 in 15 games with 61 strikeouts and 29 walks with a 3.97 ERA. In his first professional start, he threw a complete-game shutout against a Cincinnati rookie league squad. After his baseball career ended, Hewlett embarked upon a career in the ministry and missionary work. He is a member of the Huntington High School Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.
