Big win on a bittersweet Saturday for OPRF baseball

In a month or so, high school baseball will be over for Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Tucker Henry. He’ll leave for the University of Iowa, as a student only, but he’ll bring with him an important part of home: The memory of former player Andrew Hagins, who died too young in December 2023.

Henry was named recipient of the $1,000 Andrew Hagins Memorial Scholarship, Saturday, ahead of the Huskies’ 14-4 West Suburban Conference crossover victory over Hinsdale South. 

While Hagins crushed his prodigious high school home runs before Henry was even born, he is well aware of Hagins’ impact on the program.

“I know he was a great example of what a baseball player should be like on and off the field,” said Henry, a right-handed pitcher who got the win Friday night in a 16-2 victory over crosstown rival Fenwick, retiring the final 12 Friars in a row.

“I was shocked,” he said of the scholarship. “I wasn’t expecting it at all.”

It was a sentimental day, of course. On the field, the Huskies (17-7) prevailed due to an eight-run fourth inning, paced by a Hagins-like home run to right field by junior first baseman Brandon Beasley. But they got a lot of help from the Hornets, who gave up three walks, a hit batsman, a wild pitch and two errors in that frame.

Junior Collin Kjarsgaard gave up just two hits in four innings of work to get the win, while another junior, Xavier Martin, had a key double and a run scored in that big fourth inning.

“I know he was very important to the program and he was a big example of what it means to be a Huskie and, really, what it means to be a baseball player here,” Martin said of Hagins, “giving it all to your teammates and giving it all for the game.”

Near the pitcher’s mound postgame, Huskies’ pitching coach Tim Dennehy, who played with Hagins, found the day tough.

“Every time on the field, I think about him,” Dennehy said. “We talk about playing baseball the Huskie way, and he was the example of that. I miss him, and today is a day to celebrate his life but it’s a little bittersweet.”

As for Henry, who threw six innings Friday against Fenwick and allowed two unearned runs on four hits with six strikeouts, Dennehy said he was a worthy scholarship recipient.

“He does all the little things,” he said. “He works harder than anybody else; he’s picking up after the game, putting stuff away. He carries himself professionally and the other guys look up to him just as Andrew was. Tucker is somebody I would want to play behind. He’s another example of a Huskie baseball player.”

OPRF head coach Kevin Campbell agreed.

“Tucker is a guy we trust in big games on the mound,” Campbell said. “He’s a guy who gets some big-time starts for us. He’s also a guy we’ll bring out of the pen. He’s a leader on and off the field for us.”

In the pregame ceremony, Hagins’ mom Toni spoke, as did Hagins’ fiancée Nadia Abuomar. Both agreed those were difficult speeches to make.

“Bittersweet I think would be the perfect word,” Abuomar said. “Honored to celebrate his legacy, but I wish he was here. It’s very hard to continue forward without him, but trying to move forward being more like him.”

Hagins’ dad, Mike, threw out the ceremonial first pitch and his cousin Mia Lopez sang the national anthem.

“It’s a day we look forward to, but at the same time, bringing back memories of the wonderful time,” Toni Hagins said. “Just the idea of the game and the spirit that these players show, I miss that a lot.”

Abuomar said Hagins would be pleased with this year’s edition of OPRF baseball.

“First he would say, ‘That’s amazing,’” she said of that 17-7 record. “But then he would be more proud of the team camaraderie. You can see them laughing, you can see them joking, you can see them being team players.

“That’s what Andrew would be so proud of.”

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