Crabtree and Hoyle: From Rivals to Co-Captains

Duke infielders Chris Crabtree and Wil Hoyle are set to embark on their final chapter in a Blue Devils uniform this weekend as Duke takes on Virginia Military Institute in a series of three home games. For these graduate students and recently elected co-captains, their story together begins far before they ever stepped foot in a Duke dugout. As they prepare to leave everything out on the field, Crabtree and Hoyle reflect on what it was like to go from Little League rivals to high school rivals to teammates and leaders of their team and how the two of them helped shape the rise of Duke baseball.

Both Crabtree and Hoyle grew up in or around Durham and began their uncannily similar journey to Duke together at the age of ten. Crabtree played for North Durham Little League, Hoyle for South Durham Little League; Crabtree's father was the coach of his team while Hoyle's dad was the coach of his—they played travel ball together, continued through middle school before their paths took them to rival high schools; Crabtree attended Riverside High School while Hoyle was down the road at Jordan High School.

In telling their story, Crabtree recounts the experience of being intertwined in each other's stories from kids to their final year together as co-captains at Duke as "a true full circle moment."

Growing up in the Triangle with Duke University as one of three major ACC schools in the area, the decision to put on a Blue Devil uniform was an easy decision for the two. For Hoyle, it came down to the coaches making him feel like they wanted him there. He felt welcomed by the program.

Obviously, one cannot mention Duke without crediting the university for its pride in academics, in which provides Crabtree and Hoyle to have, "the ability to use baseball as an opportunity to receive a good degree as well."

"Along with the academics and coaching staff, it was the trajectory the program was on," Hoyle explained. "When we were growing up, Duke was not very good at baseball, but I could start to see what Coach Pollard and the rest of coaching staff had going on. They started to bring in better recruiting classes, started to win more games, made it to Regionals in 2016 for the first time, and that is what really sold it for me."

For Crabtree, the decision to play for Duke in the city that he grew up in was a "no brainer."

"I cannot talk about Duke without talking about the academics—it is top notch—but when I came here on a visit and interacted with the coaching staff, it was just so apparent to me that this was the place for me. I immediately knew that this would be an incredible opportunity and felt like I would be a fool to pass this opportunity up. I feel like we both made an incredible decision, and I am so happy with it. I would not have wanted to end up anywhere else."

Despite Duke baseball going 30-28 overall and 12-18 in conference play the year before Crabtree and Hoyle arrived, both knew they had something special to contribute to the program after they committed.

"Coach Pollard really had it turning around in the right direction, and when we would come on our visits, we could tell it was different," recalls Hoyle. "Coach Pollard believed in what he was doing and even more so, that what he was doing was going to work."

Visiting campus and talking with guys already on the team brought to foresight the level of talent that was missing in the program when they were growing up.

"When we were growing up, it was not really a destination spot for baseball players, but as we went to high school, people started talking about wanting to go to Duke," Hoyle recounts. "Guys like Griffin Conine, Jimmy Herron, Graeme Stinson, and Adam Laskey were starting to commit to Duke, and I felt like that was just something that I wanted to be a part of. Being from [Durham], it would be an especially cool experience to play for a school in the town that I grew up in—to represent my city. I feel like we contributed to winning games and just that winning culture."

For Crabtree, it was the opportunity to be part of Duke baseball history—a chance to contribute to a winning program. "When it was time to commit to a college, one look at Duke and what they had at the time, it was very easy to tell that if someone were joining that team, they were going to be a part of something special, the team that really breaks [the program] through."

The chance to be a part of that breakthrough team was too appealing to pass up. Once thought of as a dark horse team to make a run, Duke has become a household name in Division I baseball and a program that fans talk about.

Last year, the team scored 12 straight wins, secured their fourth ACC title—the first in 60 seasons—a stark contrast to when Duke had previously never reached the ACC tournament Championship game.

A significant shift in that momentum came from winning the ACC title last year—"a moment I cannot even put into words," Hoyle recounts. "Especially after all we had been through as a team earlier that year, it had been sort of a struggle, but it really just brought us closer together. Seeing the outpouring of support and being from Durham made it a thousand times more special because bringing a trophy back to the city you grew up in and have so much pride in, is pretty amazing."

"It is so different…so, so different," Hoyle continues when talking about the change in the program. "We joke that we would not have gotten recruited here now because the incoming freshmen classes are just that good. [The team] also has so much more support now than we did as freshmen, whether it be physical fans in the stands or fans in and around Durham following along online or reaching out when they see players in public."

A lot of the newfound "fame" can be credited to the success Coach Pollard has amassed with the program.

"People believe that we are supposed to be here, and the caliber of the program has contributed to the overall culture shift that has happened," Hoyle said. "When we first got here, making Regionals was new, being in the NCAA tournament was new, but everyone knows that this is where [the team] belongs now, and all our work is geared towards Omaha now, instead of it being just a pipe dream."

"It makes you realize that it is much bigger this is—than baseball, us, this team—the amount of support we received that weekend [of the ACC Championship] makes you realize and appreciate how many people are tuned in and how much of what we are doing matters," Crabtree explained. "It is so humbling to know that people really care about this and the impact we are making. It was such a big thing to do for this program and the city of Durham."

Now the two are graduate students are in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke, looking to finish out the final chapter of their collegiate baseball career. Hoyle redshirted his freshman year, so he always knew he had that extra year of eligibility, but for Crabtree, the COVID extra year waiver ensured that his senior season would not be his last. One compelling aspect of coming back was getting a master's from the Fuqua Business school program; the other aspect was the feeling of unfinished business.

"We came here to take the program to Omaha, and we have not done it yet, so we felt that if we had one more year, we would lead the charge with the new guys coming and the other guys coming back," Hoyle said.

Through all the trials and tribulations of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was one silver lining for Crabtree: one more season of Duke baseball.

"Being a part of this team is one of the coolest experiences we are ever going to have, and once you leave that college baseball setting, there is really no replicating it."

And now in their last year, with their pending final collegiate start around the corner, Crabtree and Hoyle went from being high school rivals to co-captains of the team.

"One of the things we have talked about over the last two seasons is just being leaders of the team," recalls Hoyle. "We got voted captains, which was just an honor and very special moment for us to share together and with Coach. That was sort of a goal we had coming into the Fall, and we are just so lucky to have a great group of guys that look to us as leaders"

The moment is special for them. "Our values and work habits really align, so as soon as we got here, we just clicked along those lines," Hoyle described. "All the work that we do outside of practice, we do together. We have spent three summers together focusing on getting our bodies right, and even if we had not grown up together, you grow close to someone going through the trenches together. To see it come to fruition whether through captainship or in success on the field, it is just really easy to root for each other."

"There are obviously some differences between us, we are different kinds of players, and have different styles of play," Crabtree followed. "But the things that have brought us together like work ethic and lifestyle make our differences complement each other, which is really important in leadership roles."

The 2021-2022 season begins Friday. The uniforms are hung—Crabtree, 3; Hoyle, 4—the lights of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park are ready to shine, and the cleats are ready to be laced for the last first time…the final chapter. But, the story is not over yet.

"The tunnel vision is on for getting to Omaha. We have won Regionals two times, won the ACC Championship, we have come one game away from Omaha twice, we have been Top Ten in the rankings, but Omaha is the one box we need to check," Hoyle said.

Crabtree echoed, "we have done so much in these last four years, but that has been what we have talked about since we have been here."

And for the record, Crabtree and Hoyle certainly kept track of their competing records growing up.

"We're talking Duke vs UNC here, Riverside vs Jordan," laughs Crabtree. "Throughout the years, Jordan High School got progressively better and when you look at it on paper my junior and senior year, we should not have won, but when the spotlight was on, my guys put out and I guess Wil's folded. It was always great to keep that rivalry going, especially after we both knew we were going to Duke."

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Crabtree and Hoyle: From Rivals to Co-Captains

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Chris Crabtree

Wil Hoyle

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Crabtree and Hoyle: From Rivals to Co-Captains

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Players Mentioned

Chris Crabtree

Wil Hoyle

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