Auburn processes baseball player midseason

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Two days after his dismissal from Auburn’s baseball team, Hunter Kelley said he remains “in shock.” The former Alexandria High star said there was no lead-up.

First-year Auburn coach Sunny Golloway called out names in the locker room after a 3-2 loss to East Tennessee State on Sunday. Those players met with the coach individually in his office.

When it was over, Kelley was among three players no longer with the team.

“When I came back to the locker room, I had six players crying in my arms,” he said. “It was hard. It was like somebody cut my heart out. I’ve played ball my whole life.”

Kelley, a senior outfielder and returning starter from 2013, was the one player dismissed from the team. Senior first baseman Patrick Savage and junior pitcher Chase Williamson apparently took Golloway’s offer to quit.

“When I got in there,” Kelley said, “he just started off by saying, ‘Hunter, I don’t think you’ll be able to help this program this year. I just don’t think your attitude should be in this program.’

“Me, of course, I was devastated. I didn’t know what he was talking about. It just kind of blew me away because, these are my brothers, and I’ve played ball all my life. I’ve never heard anybody tell me that.”

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