‘For the last time’: As SC baseball begins, coaches reflect on why season is important

The South Carolina American Summer League is in the early-goings of its season, and teams in The Herald’s coverage area are settling in to the competition.

The baseball league took the place of American Legion baseball for this summer after Legion canceled its season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Lancaster are fielding teams in the league for the summer. All games in the region start at 7 p.m., and they’re being played in Lancaster, at the home of American Legion Post 31.

With just a few total games completed, Fort Mill is in first place with a 1-0 record. Lancaster is second at 1-1. And Rock Hill is third at 0-1. Rock Hill and Fort Mill have had both of their scheduled games thus far interrupted by rain.

Each team plays other games outside the region to add to the games they get to play this summer, but only region games count in the standings that will later decide who will play in the state tournament to cap the year.

Fort Mill has an overall record of 1-1, while in the region, they own a victory against Lancaster.

Fort Mill head coach Tom Skula is looking to Justin Lehman, Connor Rasmussen and Kolby Crepeau to be his top players on offense. He is counting on Magdiel Cotto and Blake Sherrill to be the leaders on the pitching staff.

“We just need to play some games so we can see what we have overall,” said Skula. “I like what I see so far, but we are just getting started.”

The veteran coach, who took Fort Mill’s Legion team to the regionals a year ago, is thankful for one thing in particular.

“Giving all of these players another opportunity to play has been great,” added Skula. “After having their spring seasons cut short, it gave many of them a chance to play for the last time in their life. Watching all of them play has been great.”

Skula, who is a veteran of the playoffs in American Legion, is also pleased that the season will mean something other than just getting to play.

“When we started putting this league together, every coach in the state said they wanted something to play for this summer,” he said. “The state tournament was a big part of what we wanted. It makes the regular season mean something.”

Lancaster, Fort Mill, Rock Hill face off

Lancaster’s overall record is 1-3. In the region, the team has defeated Rock Hill, while losing to Fort Mill.

Zack Sater, Landon Mills, and Tyler Zeste have been the top three performers at the plate. Luke Harril and Zane Cook have also done well on offense. Lancaster head coach Jimmy Jackson has used Mills, Braxton Elms and Chas DeBruhl on the mound in the early going.

“We are beginning to come together as a team,” said Jackson. “We just need to keep working hard and getting better. However, the most important thing is that these young men have a place to play baseball this summer. They have really enjoyed getting back on the field.”

Rock Hill has an overall mark of 0-4. Their league mark reflects a loss to Lancaster.

Hunter Fryzowicz and Ryan Brown have been the offensive leaders thus far. Head coach Jeremy McCoy is still not sure about his complete pitching staff because of the lack of games played. At present he is counting on Nick Petit and Sydney Mullennix to be his top pitchers.

“We just need to play more games so I can see what kind of team we are going to have,” said McCoy. “Our players have worked hard thus far. We just need more games under our belt so we can come together as a team.”

The Rock Hill coach echoed the sentiments of the other region coaches.

“Our players and parents have been very responsive to what we are doing,” said McCoy. “A lot of people in addition to the coaches have done a lot of work to see that we had baseball this summer. The look on the players faces as they compete says it all.”

Rock Hill and Fort Mill were rained out of their two games on Monday night. The first was supposed to be a completion of an opening day suspended contest, while the second was a regularly scheduled game.

They will play the regular scheduled game on Wednesday night. Rock Hill also takes on Lancaster on Wednesday night. The region’s week concludes with a game on Friday night featuring Lancaster and Fort Mill.

The Rock Hill-Fort Mill suspended game will be completed next week.