Rouse alums Thomas, Vannoy reunite with Round Rock Hairy Men
Photo Credit: Zach Smith
Hayden Thomas and Cody Vannoy have been playing baseball together since they were eight years old.
They started on a Cedar Park Youth League team together and eventually reunited at Rouse, where they helped the Raiders win their first district title in 2017 and advancing to the regional quarterfinals.
Now, they've reunited once again as members of the Round Rock Hairy Men, a temporary expansion team in the Texas Collegiate League.
“We were on the Dodgers way back when,” Vannoy said. “It wasn’t even kid pitch yet. My dad will tell you that Hayden could always throw hard, even back then. A lot of cool things were happening for us at Rouse. With that connection, he’s one of the reasons why I’m (with the Hairy Men).”
Vannoy was named District MVP his junior season at Rouse, his first in public school after spending the first two years of high school at Summit Christian Academy.
Thomas won the top district award the following season.
The Hairy Men roster is loaded with local players. There are seven that graduated from Round Rock ISD, three from Leander ISD, two from Georgetown ISD and one from Pflugerville ISD.
“It creates an easy friendship,” Thomas said. “It’s something we can relate to right off the bat. Being from the same area and having played against each other, it really benefits us getting to know each other really quickly. It helps us build relationships quickly.”
Originally, Texas pitcher and Rouse alumnus Jared Southard was supposed to join his former Raider teammates on the Round Rock roster, but the Texas Athletic department nixed any athlete from competing in the summer collegiate league.
Thomas played in the Collegiate Summer Baseball Invitational in Bryan earlier this summer. One of the coaches there mentioned the Hairy Men would be joining the TCL, and he quickly signed on.
When Thomas and Southard heard the Hairy Men needed another catcher, they approached Round Rock manager Chase Almendarez, and Vonnoy was on the roster soon thereafter.
“These are all guys that, even if we’re all dispersed around, we grew up together, especially the Round Rock guys,” Vannoy said. “It’s a little different for me since I was in private school for the first two years. I heard of some of these guys, but I never got to play them.”
Thomas made 16 appearances in his first year with TAMU-CC, striking out 23 batters over 17.1 innings. He made five starts, finishing 2-1 with a 4.38 ERA with 23 strikeouts in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
“I just want reps and I just want to be around baseball,” Thomas said. “Being a pitcher, I only pitch once or twice a week, and we have the option not to come, but I want to get to play again. I’ll shag BP or do anything. I just like being around it.”
The college experience has been a little bit more of a journey for Vannoy.
The catcher went to UT-RGV for one year and redshirted. He transferred to Tarleton State before the 2020 season was set to begin, and played in 13 games, batting .366 with nine runs scored, seven RBIs and one home run before the pandemic ended the year.
With updated NCAA eligibility rules, he’ll be a draft-eligible, third-year freshman next season.
“Being able to be closer to home and play my summer (at Dell Diamond) is really cool,” Vannoy said. “My old coaches and some family and friends have come out.
"The COVID stuff kind of stinks because you can’t take pictures and hang out with them. As a kid, you practice signing autographs, and these are the perfect moments for it, and you can’t. But it’s good that we’re getting to play baseball.”
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Originally published at https://www.hillcountrynews.com/stories/rouse-alums-thomas-vannoy-reunite-with-round-rock-hairy-men,82751