LUMBERTON—Veteran Lumberton High School baseball coach Paul Hodges has announced that he is stepping down as the school’s baseball coach, The Fayetteville Observer has confirmed.

         Hodges has been the head baseball coach at the school for 25 years, and led the Pirates to a 15-7 mark and the Southeastern 4-A conference championship.

         Hodges says plans to remain on the Lumberton faculty through next year, then hopes to retire as a teacher in North Carolina, relocate to Florida and continue to teach and coach there.

         He remarried last year after his former wife passed away after a long battle with cancer in 2008.  His wife lives in Florida and he commented on the difficulty of the travel both of them has had.