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-Nick Nickles- Nick Nickles is joining the Diamond Prospects staff after his 3-year tenure as an assistant coach for the Easley Greenwave. Nickles worked as the pitching coach during his final two years and directed infielders for all three seasons. In his stint as pitching coach for Easley, the staff went 43-17 with a team ERA of 1.98. All graduating pitchers (five) that played at Easley under Nickles’ tutelage received a baseball scholarship. Ten pitchers and infielders received baseball scholarships in his three years combined. Nickles was born in Anderson, SC and attended Palmetto High School where he played baseball for current Easley head baseball coach, Roger Finley. Nickles was an All-Region selection two years at Palmetto, selected in 2000 as the Region I-AA Player of the Year, All-State and was chosen for the North/South game. Nickles also was an All-State basketball player in 2000, and was a 3-year starter on the hard floor at Palmetto, which won two upper-state championships in his three years. Nickles went on to The Citadel to play baseball as a middle infielder and realized that his career and passion would have to be as an instructor of baseball, not as a Big Leaguer. He graduated with a B.S. Degree with Honors in 2004 and was nominated for the 2000-2001 Southern Conference All-Academic Team. Nickles continues to feed his passion for baseball by coaching with the South Carolina Diamond Devils, and scouting professionally, beginning his second year with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an associate scout.       In his spare time, Nickles enjoys fishing with his old high school basketball coach, Lawton Williams, and teaching his current, past players, and Coach Chad Amidon the fun of fishing. Nickles is married to baseball with no kids. .

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Prospect Breakdown-District I By: Nick Nickles-July 30, 2007 Andy Fowler-P/2B, Spartanburg Methodist Signee: Fowler is a small-bodied guy with a big arm. He resembles Tim Hudson in a uniform with his stature. Fowler did run out of gas over the first five innings and dropped down to 84-85 around the 80-pitch range of his start that went 6+ innings. Fowler is a legit upper-80’s guy hovering between 87-89 and topping out at 90. Fowler worked his fastball on both sides of the plate. His change-up was very effective and much better than previous outings. Fowler’s curveball is a get-me-over variety, but with his arm-speed, Fowler’s hook could be another serious pitch added to his repertoire if he would not “baby it”. Fowler is very effective when he keeps the ball down and tends to get hurt when he leaves the ball up with regularity in the zone. Fowler was the 2A/3A MVP in the North/South game and continued tonight to show why he was one of the better pitchers in the class of 2007. Arturo Mogrezutt-3B/SS, Spartanburg Methodist Signee: Mogrezutt (left) is a very aggressive hitter at the plate and showed some opposite field power and speed by driving a fastball into the right-centerfield gap and legging out a triple. His infield actions have improved and he has plenty of arm strength across the diamond as a 3B/SS. There is no doubt about Mogrezutt’s talent. He can play anywhere and the ability he has to swing the bat makes him a very diverse player. The fact remains that Mogrezutt could still be a better ballplayer than the level he plays. A moderate risk-high reward pick-up for SMC. John Bolding-1B/P, Erskine Signee: At 6-2 and over210 pounds, Bolding played an above average first base tonight with very good reaction time and footwork. Bolding stabbed a one-hop smash hit by Michael Roth to his right and then hustled back to the bag with ease to make the great play. He has a presence in the middle of the line-up, and has hit balls this summer that have disappeared. He led the state in homeruns (14) and RBI (59) in his senior year at Pickens High School. Bolding could be the best homerun hitter you have not heard about. Bolding has the ability to be a four-year, two-way starter and All-American at Erskine with an 88-90 mph heater in his arsenal. Austin Ashmore-OF, 2008 Greer HS, South Carolina Commit: The left-handed hitting outfielder has a lot of potential and some pop in his bat. The timing mechanism required from the open stance to square up the fastball seems to give him fits when he gets change-ups away. He invites you to come inside, but has shown with some regularity that he has no problem dropping the hands on it for extra bases as he did tonight in a 2-for-3 game with a double. He appeared close to 100 percent from his knee injury that forced him to miss most of his sophomore campaign. Ashmore will be continue to be one of the best hitters in the class of 2008.         Jake Koenig-2B, 2008 Greenville HS, Unsigned: Koenig doesn’t wow you with any tools, but he is a solid ball player. He has average infield actions and an average arm, but makes the plays. He doesn’t strikeout much and puts the ball in play. A solid player that lacks pure power, but should find a spot on a college roster due to fact that he can help you and not hurt you by knowing his limitations and maximizing his abilities. . Prospect Breakdown-District VII By: Nick Nickles-July 30, 2007 Matt Pegler-RHP, 2009, Riverside HS, Unsigned: Pegler was 84-86 and topped out at 87. He was a fastball-curveball guy tonight and was touched up for five runs. He was consistent tonight but ineffective at times. Pegler seems to have abandoned his change-up, which has been an above average pitch for him in the past. The couple of change pieces he did show were at 73 and 74 MPH respectively. Pegler’s curveball was 68-69. It is an above average breaker but there is a 17 MPH difference between the hook and the fastball, giving the hitters plenty of time to sit fastball and adjust to put it in play. Pegler still has a good upside and he has three pitches he can throw for strikes. He kept his team within striking distance, and worked the outer half of the zone for strikes all night. It will be interesting to see if Pegler will have a jump in velocity by next summer. Paul Nitto-Catcher, 2009, J.L. Mann HS: Nitto is a big-time player in the making. Nitto (left) is a catcher, but was the DH backing up John Nester tonight. Nitto looks the part physically as a high-end division one catcher. He takes a serious hack, and got the first hit of the game off an 88 MPH fastball that he lasered through the 6-hole. All indications point to Nitto playing showcase baseball this fall all around the state. He is a guy that pro scouts should take a peek at over the next couple of seasons and college guys get on immediately. He will enter his junior year in the fall. Peter Kovanda-LHP, 2008, Blue Ridge HS: Kovanda is an interesting prospect. A tall left-handed pitcher who threw at 84-86 MPH and sat at 84 in his relief appearance of Matt Pegler. His breaking pitch was 72-75 and improved as his outing progressed. It was a late breaker and didn’t bite much, but was extremely effective behind his fastball to the District I hitters. Kovanda’s stock improved with college coaches who were in attendance after this outing. He couldn’t have pitched much better and took control very quickly in a game that could have gotten out of hand. He is a definite follow guy. Michael Roth-1B, 2008, Riverside HS, South Carolina commit: Roth is locked in at the plate again. Following a little bit of a slump after …

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-Jordy Snyder- Jordy Snyder is a Spartanburg native who played at Dorman High School for four years under Coach Ben Waddle and was a member of the North-South all-star team in 2002. He also played under Coach Tim Wallace for two years at Spartanburg Methodist College where he split time at both shortstop and centerfield. From SMC, Snyder transferred to Elon University where he also played shortstop and centerfield. During his time at Elon, the Phoenix won a Southern Conference Championship and placed third in the 2006 Clemson Regional. Snyder also played two summers with the Spartanburg Stingers where he was voted to the All-Star team in 2006. During his collegiate career, Snyder was named to the Region X All-Region team in 2005 and garnered second team pre-season All-Southern Conference Team in 2007. .

Recap-NC/SC Select: Game 2 By Nick Nickles-June 23, 2007 South Carolina had revenge on its mind after losing a close battle with North Carolina the night before in Game One of two in the North Carolina versus South Carolina Select match-up. The Sandlappers would send Emerald’s Brandon Miller to do battle with the potent sticks of the Tar Heels. South Carolina struck early by putting up a five-spot in the second inning with Hilton Head’s Brian Harrison (left) smoking a bases loaded, clearing double into the gap to collect three of his eventual four RBI’s and an MVP selection. North Carolina responded with a five-run fourth inning of their own to tie the game at five. Harrison and Riverside’s John Nester followed up with RBI-singles in the sixth to take the lead 7-5. Logan Munson came on in sixth and struggled with his control a bit and two runs were scored on him to tie it back up at 7-7, but Munson would actually get the win because the South Carolina team was determined not to be swept and put together a rally in the top of the seventh with some help from the North Carolina defense. South Carolina scrapped across three runs to make it 10-7. Drew Wingo came in to close the game and North Carolina would hit four balls extremely hard that provided some scares but three of the four were right at Sandlappers. Dusty Quattlebaum’s ball made it over the rightfield wall for a solo shot to end the scoring at 10-8 for a South Carolina victory. WP: Logan Munson (AC Flora), LP: Vance Williams (Athens Drive), SV: Drew Wingo (Mauldin).Top hitters-South Carolina: Brian Harrison (Hilton Head) 3-for-3, 2B, 4 RBI, 2 runs; Brett Thomas (AC Flora) 2-for-4, RBI, 2 runs; Scott Wingo (Mauldin) 2-for-3, 2B. North Carolina: David Mailman (Providence) 1-for-2, 2B, 2 runs; Dusty Quattlebaum (Crest) 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs; Greg Holt (West Forsyth) 1-for-3, HR, 4 RBI.Pitchers: Brandon Miller (Emerald) 4 innings, 5 runs; Hamilton Bennett (Fort Mill) 1 inning, 0 runs; Logan Munson (AC Flora) 1 inning, 2 runs; Drew Wingo (Mauldin) 1inning, 1 run. .

Recap: NC/SC Select-Game One By: Nick Nickles-June 22, 2007 Game one between the North Carolina and South Carolina select was a showcase of good pitching silencing the premier hitters from each state at Myrtle Beach’s Coastal Federal Field on Friday. Lancaster’s Steven Neff (right) pitched thee solid innings allowing only one run to the star-studded line-up from the Palmetto State. Fort Mill’s Hamilton Bennett followed in relief in the fourth and fell behind to the first hitter he faced, and eventually lost him to a base on balls. A successful hit-and-run by David Mailman, set up an RBI-groundout by Cam Freeman and an runs-scoring single by John Henson. North Carolina grabbed a 3-1 lead, which would stand to be the final. Bennett, though, seemed to find his rhythm and had the most dominating performance on either team after the initial trouble. He struck out the last six hitters he faced making several hitters look ridiculous on his deceptively nasty change-piece. South Carolina’s lone run was unearned, as Mauldin’s Scott Wingo scored on one of four North Carolina errors during the game in the first inning. WP: Dustin Harrison (Alexander Central), LP: Hamilton Bennett (Fort Mill). South Carolina Notables: Stephen Neff (Lancaster) 3 innings, 1 run; Hamilton Bennett (Fort Mill) 3 innings, 2 runs; Justin Hopper (Lexington) 1 inning, 0 runs. Scott Wingo (Mauldin) 1-for-3, run; Arturo Mogrezutt (Easley) 1-for-4, triple. .