Brian Davis; Hudson High baseball.

Byline: Chad Garner

COLUMN: COACHES CORNER

Hudson High baseball coach Brian Davis has built an exceptional program since he took over in 1992.

While Davis first thought he'd be around only a year or two when he first started, it has morphed into 18 extremely successful seasons.

Under Davis, who admits to being demanding and holding his players accountable, the Hawks have won four Central Mass. Division 2 titles (1999, 2002, '03, '06) and two state titles ('99, '02).

"I feel fortunate that I'm a small part of it, I really do," said Davis, who is in his third year as a part-time scout with the Cincinnati Reds. "I've had a lot of good assistant coaches and players. I have a desire to keep going, keep winning, in a sense keep being successful."

When Davis was named coach at Hudson in 1992, there weren't many expectations for the program.

"They went through some tough years," Davis said. "I pretty much had only one place to go, and that was up."

That season, Hudson finished 7-9 - one of only two seasons under Davis that the Hawks haven't been .500 or better. The other was 1996.

"A guy that hates to lose like myself, I beat myself up after losses," said Davis, whose father was the first baseball captain at Auburn High in 1937. "You try to forget about it, but sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night screaming.

"When things are going well, it's easy, and when things aren't going well, it's hard to go to work sometimes. Those are tough times, but it drives you to succeed."

The Hudson faithful sure were screaming during the state championship seasons. In 1999, Hudson faced undefeated Danvers and won, 4-2.

"We started out slow, but then we turned it on and won 13 or 14 in a row and got hot at the right time," Davis said. "We had a mature group, and they were gritty guys. They were hard workers, and it showed."

In 2002, Hudson had only one hit going into the seventh inning and led, 4-0, before blanking King Phillip, 5-0.

"Justin Veo is the only player in Hudson that has two...

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