Athens High School’s Tucker Stockman is going from one Golden Eagles baseball program and joining another, soon to be a member of the Top 25 Southern Miss baseball team as a catcher.

He may have a father who has played baseball in Great Britain and Canada, and he may be on his way to a Top 25 program in Hattiesburg, but Stockman is Athens raised and represents the black and gold with pride.

With his father, Matt, spending much of his life in Canada, the Stockmans are naturally Toronto Blue Jays fans.

However, Tucker, bound for Hattiesburg, gets his inspiration from a couple of St. Louis Cardinals greats: Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.

The former is one of the premier hitters of the modern era, the latter is arguably the greatest defensive catcher of the modern era.

As a catcher with the ability to go yard, these are two players fit to the style of baseball that he wishes to emulate in his own game.

Getting to this point of his baseball career, on the way to a top-level program, came with hard work, dedication and a reliable support system.

Moving on to the next level, Tucker has learned how to treat baseball more seriously, while still having fun at the same time.

“For the past few years, it’s not like a job, but I have started taking it more seriously. It’s a lot more serious and it’s a lot more time working on your craft,” he said. “Obviously, (Southern Miss) will be a step up from that. So it will be closer to a being like a job, but I would not call it that, because it’s so fun. I just love what I do. I love getting in the cages, I love working on catching, just everything.”

His support system includes a plethora of individuals, including his parents, coaches, teammates, friends, spiritual leaders and Athens City Schools employees.

However, he says his parents have had the greatest impact on getting him to this point.

Tucker describes his father as someone who was never too tough on him, but was always there for advice and support.

Matt Stockman reminisces on the first time he realized how good Tucker could be.

“So, he was 14, we were playing in the championship game for the World Wood Bat (League), we faced (pitcher) Danny Corona, who was a year older, but his birthday was still good enough to play in our age group. He was touching 92 (miles per hour) at 14 years old,” he said. “Corona mowed down our first three batters; three up and three down. Tuck came up fourth and hit a pretty deep fly ball to the warning track. Tuck came up the second time and smoked a double that one-hopped the fence. Now, we didn’t win the game, but that moment right there, I was like ‘okay.’ When you can turn around 90 at 14, that’s saying something.”

Tucker also takes the time to recognize his mother, Nicole Stockman, who has been instrumental in the mental aspect of baseball and life in general.

“With baseball being such a mental sport, she would remind me that in baseball, you’re going to fail. But, how good you pick yourself back up and how good you do the next time is what matters,” Tucker said.

Tucker is not all hitting and defense, either.

He has a perfect average in the classroom, too. His 4.0 GPA during his time at Athens High School is something both of his parents are abundantly proud of.

“We are so proud of his academics,” Matt said. “There’s not too many guys who play at that level with a 4.0 GPA., which blows me away. Academics will take you further with your education and further than baseball.”

Tucker says his favorite thing to do on the baseball diamond is throwing out runners.

Described as taking on an old-school type of mentality, he wishes that people would steal more often.

Additionally, Tucker would love to see the return of small-ball.

“I wish guys tried to steal more; I love throwing out runners,” Tucker said.

“Not as many people try to steal anymore. You can see that in the big leagues with numbers. That’s not a huge deal, but the small-ball game is kind of going away.”

Now, Tucker is preparing for the next stage of his life, going from his home of Athens to another state and taking on new challenges.

However, with these challenges come new opportunities to elevate his game, and also gives his parents, coaches, teammates and the Athens community something new to be proud of.