Around the Horn: A May Round-Up
By: Austin Alexander-June 1, 2007
Four state champions were crowned as sweeps took place in all four Championship Series’. One in-state club advanced to the Junior College World Series, four Division I programs played into the NCAA Tournament and DP announced its year-end Diamond Kings. Summer baseball also got cranked up in May as much of South Carolina’s top talent switched uniforms for the upcoming months. Today we take a look back at the past 31 days…
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Diamond Prospects Statistics:
Teams covered-32
Games seen-28
Fields-14
College games seen-11
Pro games seen-2
Rainouts-0
Miles traveled-1,881
DP.com Hits-783,516
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DP Accolades:
Best game: Riverside at AC Flora, pick one of the three
Best comeback: Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth in Round 2 of the Southern Conference Tournament, Citadel second baseman Bryan Altman hit a high arcing ball down the leftfield line. It hit a brick column right beside the foul pole, bouncing up and inside the foul pole and rested on the wall with green paint on the baseball. It was ruled a homerun, which was a grand slam, Citadel won 6-5…Honorable Mention is in order for the Wofford Terriers for their turnaround season and 5-0 run through the SoCon Tournament as the #9 seed.
Wildest play: Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth in Round 2 of the Southern Conference Tournament, Citadel second baseman Bryan Altman hit a high arcing ball down the leftfield line. It hit a brick column right beside the foul pole, bouncing up and inside the foul pole and rested on the wall with green paint on the baseball. It was ruled a homerun, which was a grand slam, Citadel won 6-5. A pretty good argument ensued.
Best home to first time: Chris Dove (Elon), 3.99 from the right-side on a swing
Best home to first time (turn): Alex Dozier (Dorman) 4.20
Best pop time: John Nester (Riverside) 1.95
Longest homerun: Brandon Waring (Wofford)
Best defensive play: GOLD Medal–Western Carolina first baseman John Ingram tracked a foul pop all the way to the dugout and was completely upended and did a helicopter flop over the rail falling about five feet onto his back…and caught the ball for the third out. SILVER Medal-Earlier in that same inning, Western rightfielder Steven Strausbaugh dove fully-outstretched into the bullpen mound and crashed up against the wall, holding onto the ball for the first out of the inning.
Best pitcher’s duel: Marty Gantt (North Augusta) versus Patrick Mincey (Hartsville); Greg Harrison (Hilton Head) versus Adam Westmoreland (Brookland-Cayce)
Most dominant pitching performance: Patrick Mincey (Hartsville) versus North Augusta
Hardest fastball: Austin Stuart (North Augusta), 91 MPH
Best baseball name: Drew Saberhagen (Western Carolina), the son of former big-leaguer Bret Saberhagen
Cleanest round of pre-game: White Knoll, Elon
Top Fungo Guy: Bradley LeCroy (Western Carolina)
Best Catcher’s Pop-up: Bradley LeCroy (Western Carolina)
Best Argument with an Umpire: Mike Kennedy (Elon)
Best line from a parent in the bleachers: “Hey ump, you need a pair of glasses?”…always a very safe line to use!
Best Playing Surface: Riley Park
Best pre-game tunes: Hartsville
Best in-game tunes: AC Flora
Best ballpark atmosphere: Hartsville
Best burger: AC Flora
Best Dressed Evaluator: Pat Portugal (San Francisco Giants)
The Gary Randall Attendance Award: Greg Schilz (Pittsburgh Pirates), soon to force us to re-name this the Greg Schilz award; the award could be issued to Gary Randall (MLB Bureau) each month so we’ve decided, instead, just to name the award after him!
Hospitality Award: Johnsonville