July Round-Up

By: Austin Alexander

August 1, 2006

The month of July brought about plenty of tournament action across the state and outside our borders. Diamond Prospects hosted its first showcase and one Legion team was crowned a champion. Plenty of good baseball in every direction during a time many refer to as the off-season!

Now, Diamond Prospects crunches the numbers and breaks down some of the highlights from the past 31 days.

Diamond Prospects Statistics:

Teams covered-39

High School games seen-38

Minor League games seen-1

Fields-13

Rainouts-0

Miles traveled-2,693

Pitchers serving as cut-off man-5

Coaches with cell phones clipped to their belt-Too many to count

Coaches with a scorebook coaching third base-1

Coaches making a mound visit with scorebook in hand-1 (same guy)

Total hits on www.TheDiamondProspects.com-854,155

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Quickest game: Diamond Devils vs Hammertime Performance, 1:18

Longest game: Florence vs Rock Hill, 3:28

Best game: (tie) Cheraw 5 Richland 4 in the first round of the American Legion State Tournament

Best comeback: Down 4-1 entering the top of the ninth, Cheraw tallies four runs to top Richland 5-4 in the opening game of the American Legion State Tournament

Best home to first time: Thomas Brittle (Berkeley HS) 3.91

Best home to first time (turn): N/A

Best pop time: Jeffrey Campbell (Boiling Springs HS) 1.83 at the DP Showcase

Longest homerun: Trey Wimmer (Greenwood HS)

Top Web Gem: Allen Caldwell (Sumter HS) Made a perfect throw to third base in an American Legion tourney game, arm strength enough to draw a round of applause from those in attendance.

Tallest player: Cory Prescott (Lakewood HS) 6’8”

Shortest player: Mickie Paul (Berkeley HS) 5’5”, again!

Best pitcher’s duel: Xtra Innings X-Men 2 SC Diamond Devils 1 in Perfect Game 17U wooden bat tournament (Junior Gray vs Anthony Markham)

Most dominant pitching performance: Matt Talley (Wilson Hall HS) versus Murrells Inlet in the first round of the American Legion State Tournament.

Hardest fastball: Brandon Miller (Emerald HS), 91 MPH

Best baseball name: Cal Cox (Aynor HS)

Cleanest round of pre-game: South Carolina Diamond Devils 17U

Top Fungo Guy: Right-handed-Charlie Wentzky (Spring Valley HS), Left-handed-Derek Urquhart (Florence Legion)

Best BP Guy: (tie) Brandon McKillop and Austin Smithwick at the DP Showcase

Best Dressed Evaluator: Matt Williams (Spartanburg Methodist)

Attendance Award-Scout: Gary Randall (MLB Bureau) Marlin McPhail (New York Mets)

Attendance Award-College: John Pawlowski (College of Charleston) and Matt Williams (Spartanburg Methodist)

Best Catcher’s Pop-up: Jeff Osment (Gaffney HS)

Best Argument with an Umpire: Jeff Wicker (USC-Salkehatchie)

Best line from a mom in the bleachers: Watch out for that lollipop curve now!

Best National Anthem: Sumter’s Riley Park

Best Playing Surface: Clemson

Best pre-game tunes: Sumter’s Riley Park

To view previous Round-Ups, click here.

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