PEMBROKE — After a strong junior season at Fairmont in which he was already one of Robeson County’s best baseball players — and a Division-I prospect — Malachi Gales made some changes before his junior season.

The biggest was a change of schools, transferring to Purnell Swett — but he also went to work on his game.

The result was a terrific senior campaign for the Rams, one which has earned him recognition as The Robesonian’s Robeson County Player of the Year.

“He came in and just did what we asked him to do,” Purnell Swett coach Jeff Lamb said. “A lot of teams pitched around him, and he had a solid season for us. People respected him. He played multiple positions for us. He had 22 out of 24 stolen bases. He’s just an all-around baseball player.”

Gales, who earned his third All-County selection, hit .470 with two home runs, 14 extra-base hits, 20 RBIs, 32 runs and 22 stolen bases for the Rams.

“He can hit,” Lamb said. “If you make a mistake, he’s (going to hit it).”

The UNC Greensboro signee put in the work in the offseason to improve, specifically focusing on what he knew had been a weakness in previous seasons.

“Just the work I put in the offseason, it paid off during the season,” Gales said. “I worked on hitting the off-speed (pitch); that was one of my biggest problems. I worked on that in the offseason, and that just worked for me.”

He fit in quickly with his new high-school team — though he was no stranger to the Rams core that he joined.

“I played ball with them growing up, so I was already friends with all of them,” Gales said. “After school I used to go over there and hit with them all the time, and play with them all the time, so it wasn’t a new atmosphere.”

“He fit right in with these guys,” Lamb said. “Those guys all play together in the summer, and he learned what our expectations were and he just came in and did his job, and we didn’t have to get on to him, he just did what was asked of him. That’s what you look for.”

Gales played all over the diamond for the Rams, logging innings at first base, second base, shortstop and in the outfield.

Gales’ individual success was one of the biggest catalysts for Purnell Swett’s team success this spring, as the Rams won a share of the United-8 Conference regular-season championship for the first time since 2017.

“He played a huge part in our success,” Lamb said. “But it was an overall team effort; if he wasn’t producing other guys stepped up. He was part of the engine; one of the key pieces of keeping the engine running.”