Tenth Wheels baseball tournament begins Wednesday in Rock Hill
The city of Rock Hill’s three high schools will host the 10th annual Wheels Invitational Baseball Tournament, starting Wednesday.
Rock Hill, South Pointe and Northwestern will be joined by local schools Fort Mill, Clover and Lewisville. Two Faith Baptists, one from Georgia and one from Florida, will compete, as will General McClane (Pa.), Greenbrier East (WVa.), Rocky River (N.C.), and J.M. Tate (Fla.).
“I think we’re gonna have a really good tournament,” said Tim Hager, one of the tournament’s organizers. “Our biggest thing is, obviously for gates, we’d love to have local teams in the semifinals and finals if it works out that way. But I think it’s gonna be a good, strong field this year.”
With teams from so many different climates, there may be varying levels of sharpness on display. General McLane, hailing from near Erie, Pa., hasn’t played a game yet; Faith Baptist – the 2014 Wheels tournament champ from Brandon, Fla., has already played 28. J.M. Tate, another Florida school from near Pensacola, has played 16. Most of the local schools are about a month into their season.
There are vastly different school sizes, too. Lewisville, a 1A school, faces J.M. Tate, which competes in Florida’s 7A classification. The Lions will also play 3A South Pointe and 4A Fort Mill in three games that will certainly test Billy Keels’ team.
One thing that should be consistent, though, the weather looks pretty clear. The last two Wheels tournaments have fallen victim to cold, damp weather, but Accuweather.com projects sunny skies and highs of 72 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday, clear and a high of 83 on Friday. Saturday could see showers in the morning and the high will only reach 67. But that’s still a markedly better prognostication than in the past two tournaments.
“Hopefully it works out that way,” said Hager.
While rain may have hampered the tournament in recent years, it would take a lot more than precipitation to prevent an attempt at holding the tournament. The Wheels is named in honor of the late Larry “Wheels” Hinson, who may not have been fast – hence the fun-poking nickname – but certainly loved youth baseball, and gives out college scholarship money to local high school players.
“That’s the whole reason to have it,” said Hager. “There was a group of friends of Larry’s, that missed the guy a great deal and this was kind of a way to keep his memory going for us and also doing what we can to help some kids get to college.”
Bret McCormick • 803-329-4032; Twitter: @BretJust1T
Schedule
Tickets to watch the Wheels Baseball Tournament are $5 per day (per site), or $15 for a four-day tournament pass.
Wednesday
At Rock Hill
Faith Baptist Fla.vs Greenbrier East (H), 4 p.m.; Greenbrier East vs Rock Hill (H), 7 p.m.
At South Pointe
Lewisville vs Fort Mill (H), 4 p.m.; South Pointe vs Lewisville (H), 7 p.m.
At Northwestern
Clover HS vs Faith Baptist Ga (H), 4 p.m.; Northwestern vs Clover (H), 7 p.m.
Thursday
At Rock Hill
Faith Baptist Fla. (H) vs Rocky River, 4 p.m.; Rock Hill vs Faith Baptist (H), 7 p.m.
At South Pointe
J.M.Tate vs Fort Mill (H), 1 p.m.; Fort Mill vs South Pointe (H), 4 p.m.
At Northwestern
General McLane vs Faith Baptist Ga (H), 4 p.m.; General McLane vs Northwestern (H), 7 p.m.
Friday
At Rock Hill
Greenbrier East vs Rocky River (H), 1 p.m.; Rocky River vs Rock Hill (H), 4 p.m.
At South Pointe
Lewisville vs J.M.Tate (H), 1 p.m.; J.M. Tate vs South Pointe (H), 4 p.m.
At Northwestern
Clover vs General McLane (H), 1 p.m.; Faith Baptist Ga vs Northwestern (H), 4 p.m.
Saturday
The three teams that win their groups, plus one wild card team, will advance to the semifinals at Northwestern, starting at 11 a.m. The winners of those two games will then play in the finals later that afternoon. Consolation games will be held at South Pointe and Rock Hill and will start at 9 a.m.
Players to watch
Austin Harrigan, South Pointe Erskine signee is batting .394 with a home run and 6 RBIs, and also a team-high 3 saves and a 1.37 ERA on the mound.
Barrett Courtwright, Clover Senior pitcher is 2-1 with a 3.15 ERA and 25 strikeouts this season.
Francisco Arias, Faith Baptist (Fla.) Right-handed senior pitcher is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and committed to Seminole State College, a junior college in Florida.
Raudy Martinez, Faith Baptist (Fla.) Senior outfielder committed to Polk State, a junior college baseball powerhouse in Florida. Martinez is 6-foot-5, 220 pounds.
Evan Sisk, Lewisville Senior signed with College of Charleston has 33 strikeouts in nearly 20 innings of work and is also hitting .407 so far this season. Sisk is one of five Lions players hitting over .360.
Brandon Ashley, Northwestern Sophomore catcher has hit two home runs and knocked in 10 runs this spring. Ashley, one of the most vocal catchers in the area, is batting .455 to lead the Trojans.
Sawyer Smith, J.M. Tate (Fla.) Junior outfielder is committed to Alabama. Smith is 6-foot-2, 195 pounds and is batting .346 this season with two home runs and 10 RBIs.
Will Reid, Rock Hill Senior pitcher is having an excellent season on the mound to this point, with a 3-1 record, 37 strikeouts in 25 innings and a 1.38 ERA.
Zach Carter, Rock Hill Senior signed with Erskine is swinging a big bat at the moment, hitting .500 with four stolen bases and four doubles.
This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Tenth Wheels baseball tournament begins Wednesday in Rock Hill."