Two-sport athlete at LCM chooses Division I baseball

Posted: November 22nd 2023

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Hunter Ray is one of the top athletes at Lower Cape May Regional High School.

He completed a three-year run as the starting quarterback for the football team earlier this month, which came on the heels of an outstanding baseball season as a junior last spring.

But when it came time to choose which sport to play at the college level, it was a pretty easy choice for him.

“I was open to anything,” Ray said, “but I’m definitely a baseball guy first.”

With that in mind, it comes as no surprise, then, that Ray has decided to play baseball at the Division I level. He gave a verbal commitment to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University earlier this fall.

Ray received the offer after performing well at a camp at FDU late in the summer.

“At first I didn’t get the (college) looks that I wanted,” Ray said. “But then after I went to their camp, I had a great conversation with Coach Manny Roman and they gave me an offer and I ended up committing.”

HUNTER RAY

Ray, a left-handed hitter, was one of the top baseball players in the Cape-Atlantic League last season. He batted .423 with eight extra-base hits, 25 RBI, 30 runs scored and 19 stolen bases. He is also a talented right-handed pitcher, striking out 22 batters in 23 innings pitched.

Ray, who also plays travel baseball for Scanzano/Combat based out of Cherry Hill, has an outside chance to reach 100 career hits. He’ll need 39 in 2024 to reach the milestone.

In football, Ray enjoyed one of the top seasons for a quarterback in program history this fall. He completed 70 of 114 passes for 1,055 yards and six touchdowns against three interceptions and also ran 57 times for 473 yards and 13 scores, helping Lower finish 8-2.

Ray had been receiving some interest from Division III schools to play both football and baseball at the college level.

But once an offer was extended by Division I FDU for baseball, Ray knew that was the direction he’d take with his athletic career.

“It feels good,” he said. “Once I got it, I knew what I was going to do. I want to play baseball.”

FDU is a member of the Northeast Conference. Last season, the Knights finished 31-21-1 overall, 20-10 in conference games.

Ray is the second Lower Cape May baseball player to commit to the Division I or II college level. Just prior to the start of the current school year, teammate Evan Shoffler announced his intention to play at Division II Shippensburg.