February Round-up
By: Austin Alexander
March 1, 2006
Baseball season is underway and Diamond Prospects hit the ground running. With the exception of all the rain at the Michelin Classic, weather held up enough for us to take in some very good baseball. Below is a rundown of the highlights of the first month of hardball this spring.
Diamond Prospects Statistics:
Teams covered-33
Games seen-15
Fields-12
Rainouts-3
Coaches without rosters-7
Miles traveled-2,294
Quickest game: Wando-Fort Dorchester, 1 hour 17 minutes
Best game: Dorman 4 Landrum 2, 9 innings
Best comeback: Wade Hampton (almost), five runs in bottom of the 7th but fell short 8-7 to Cullman (AL) High School
Best home to first time: Alex Dozier (Dorman HS) 4.09
Best home to first time (turn): Alex Lee (Blythewood HS) 4.38 in the mud
Best pop time: Trent Kline (USC) 1.88
Longest homerun: Nate Horton (Byrnes HS) On two occasions
Best defensive play: Chris Price (Elon) Several diving grabs versus USC
Best pitcher’s duel: Nick Sprowls (Wando HS)-Mark Henderson (Fort Dorchester HS)
Most dominant pitching performance: Blake Cooper (Edisto vs. Barnwell)
Hardest fastball: Arik Hempy (USC), Jeff Jeffords (USC) 92 mph
Best baseball name: Cash Collins (Barnwell HS)
Milestones witnessed: Chris Carter (Byrnes HS)-100th career win; Blythewood High School-First win in school history. .