By: Nick Nickles-February 16, 2008 DP was in Simpsonville Saturday to run a scout day with the Riverside, Laurens and host Hillcrest before they would match up in a three-way scrimmage. One thing for fact is the Riverside Warriors (left, Chris Bates) put on an absolute display of dominance in the showcase part of the day and then where it matters most, on the baseball field against their oppenents. Laurens and Hillcrest had their bright spots as well, and Hillcrest particularly showed that its program still has plenty of pride and talent remaining. The crew from Laurens came into town with the flu and injury bug nagging at their talented club, but Coach Dale Nelson isn’t going to make any excuses for his club’s lackluster performance on the day. Laurens will get back to the work on Monday and get their attitudes refocused on defending their Region Championship. DP will give you all the data as this fun day unfolded at Hillcrest High School. ————————————————– 60 Times Name Class 60 Time Jordan Scott Soph 6.96 Sam Reese Sr No Time Alex Poag So 7.06 Blake Tollison Jr 7.35 Austin Lawrence So 7.33 Wil Leathers So 7.06 John Reinholz Jr 7.38 Will Owens Sr 7.18 Chipper Daniels Sr 7.19 Ben Scroggs Jr 7.60 Blake Howard Jr 7.62 Rob Kish Sr 7.47 Michael Roth Sr 7.34 Matt Reeves So 7.59 Nate Cook Sr 7.53 Chase Warren So 7.72 Daniel Cloy Jr No Time Kevin Cantrell Jr 7.47 Matthew Pegler Jr 7.60 Nick Peter Fr 7.43 Steven Daniels Jr No Time Thomas Spencer Fr 7.50 Ryan Graham So 8.25 Catchers-Pop Times Name Class Pop Time Nate Cook Sr 2.13-2.19 Kevin Cantrell Jr 2.12-2.18 Nick Peter Fr 2.34-2.49 Ryan Graham Soph 2.21-2.35 Top Outfield Arms Rank Name Class 1 Michael Roth Sr 2 Rob Kish Sr T3 Jordan Scott So T3 John Rienholz Jr T3 Matt Reeves So Top Infield Arms Rank Name Class 1 Michael Roth Sr 2 Matt Pelger Jr 3 Will Owens Sr 4 Chipper Daniels Sr 5 Will Leathers So 6 Ben Scroggs Jr Top Infield Actions Rank Name Class 1 Chipper Daniels Sr 2 Will Owens Sr 3 Michael Roth Sr 4 Will Leathers So 5 Matt Pegler Jr Pitchers Name Class R/L FB BB CH Michael Roth Sr L 80-81 fantastic control 57-58 big slow breaker 71 with sink, gives the middle infielders routine grounders Kevin Cantrell Jr R 85-86 Heavy ball, looks harder than what gun displays 68-70 threw it for a strike, good break 71 Matt Reeves So R 77-81 61-68 nasty breaker, best pitch Daniel Cloy Jr R 74-75 61 None Rob Kish Sr R 81-84 locates both sides of the plate 65-66 67-68 good action on change piece Top Prospects Rank Name Class Scout Notes 1 Michael Roth Sr A focused, talented leader spells trouble for Riverside oppenents. Will contend for every postseason award including Mr. Baseball. Has to be an early favorite. Expect a huge senior season. 2 Jordan Scott So Projectable player. Tall, sub-7.0 runner, good arm from the OF, and makes it look easy in center. Oh yea he can hit. 3 hits from the left-side and swiped a bag today. 3 Matt Pegler Jr Didnt pitch today, but he hit a towering HR over the scoreboard in left. An experienced veteran on a great team. 4 Will Owens Sr Gets it going for the Warriors. A great baserunner and top-notch defensive infielder. Fights at the plate and stays on base. 5 Rob Kish Sr Moves the ball in and out and throws lots of strikes while mixing it up. Dependable and efficient. A low to mid-80’s guy who can pitch. 6 Kevin Cantrell Jr Has a good arm. Consistently a mid-80’s guy. Needs to pitch a little more and work ahead in counts, but ability and size are already present. 7 Matt Reeves So Didn’t have it all working on the hill today, but at 6’2" with a hammer makes him projectable. A jump away from being a force. 8 Chipper Daniels Sr Kid can straight flash leather. Makes a great play every viewing. Top of his class defensively. 9 Wil Leathers So Not his best day offensivley. Is going to be a good player for the Warriors 10 Nate Cook Sr Did a good job behind the plate and collected a couple of hits on the day. Chris Bates and the Riverside Warriors put on a baseball clinic in the pro workout and then dominated two quality teams in a three-way scrimmage. Now, DP will give you detailed prospect reports for our readers. We will start with the most impressive team on the day, the Riverside Warriors. The Warriors shut out Laurens jumping out to an early 6-0 lead and proceded to jump on Hillcrest 9-0 before Hillcrest would tack on a few runs late in the ballgame. In the other game, Hillcrest defeated Laurens 6-1 gathering ten hits in five innings. Prospect Info: Riverside Warriors Michael Roth-Senior, USC signee, P/1B/OF: Every so often a player comes along that is very talented and it’s combined with a deadly focus that only wants to destroy the opposition to win. Roth (right) was like a machine on Saturday. He would walk stoically to the plate with his head down in total concentration, step in the box, look at the pitcher and square up baseballs. He was 5-for-6 in two games with the only out being made on a fastball that he nearly missed driving out of the park, sending a fly ball into the stratosphere to deep right. It is very clear he plans to lead his team to another state championship before he graduates. On the bump, it was more of the same mentality. He threw his fastball at the knees on the outside corner complimenting it with a change-piece that resulted in numerous 4-3 groundouts. Roth worked three quick, scoreless innings surrendering one weak hit. He made it a pleasure to watch baseball Saturday. Roth should contend, if not be a favorite, for most statewide post-season awards entering the season. Jordan Scott-Sophomore, OF: Bats left and throws right playing the centerfield position. Scott made all the …
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