Fresh off state championship, lefty ace at Rock Hill school commits to USC baseball
Xavier Pelzer has found his future home.
Last week — a month and a few weeks after helping lead Rock Hill public charter school Legion Collegiate to its first baseball state championship — Pelzer announced his athletic commitment to the University of South Carolina. The decision was a “no-brainer” for the rising junior pitcher, who grew up less than five minutes from Founders Park in Columbia.
“It’s been my dream school since I don’t even know when,” Pelzer told The Herald in a phone interview Thursday. “Having the chance to be able to go there and put on that uniform, it’s just special to me. Because like I said, I’ve dreamed of that moment since I was little, since I was about 5 years old.”
A lot compelled the class of 2022 prospect to USC: Going there meant staying close to home and making it possible for his parents to watch him play. His family is full of Gamecock fans, too, including his grandmother and father, both alumni, and his USC football player cousin Tonka Hemingway.
More importantly, though, Pelzer is a Gamecock fan himself — one for life, he said, ever since Jackie Bradley Jr. and Scott Wingo of the 2011 national championship team visited Pelzer’s rec baseball league one summer and signed autographs for Pelzer and a bunch of his equally bewildered friends.
“I got their autographs hanging in my room right now,” Pelzer said. “So it’s always been my dream to go here and be just like them.”
South Carolina coaches couldn’t watch Pelzer throw last year because of the NCAA-imposed recruiting dead period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But they saw him a few times in early June, Pelzer said, and offered him shortly after a Webster Athletic Association baseball tournament earlier this month.
The lefty has a smooth release — so smooth that his four-seam fastball, which tops out at 88 mph (for now), looks effortless. He also has a two-seam fastball, a changeup and a slider in his bag, he said, and those tools all contributed to a stellar sophomore year at Legion: In 2021, Pelzer went 7-1 in 11 starts, notching 72 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.83.
“I met him when he was 12 years old, getting ready to turn 13, and the first thing I noticed about him was his presence on the mound,” said Legion head coach Devon Lowery, who was drafted as a pitcher by the Kansas City Royals out of South Point (N.C.) high school in 2001. “He already came in with the mindset of, ‘I’m looking for a bigger goal, not to be a great high school player, not to be a great college player — I wanna be a big league baseball player.’ And it shows every time he goes out.”
Pelzer hopes to end his summer travel baseball season with the South Carolina Panthers on a strong note before preparing for Legion’s 2022 season. The Lancers will compete in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association this season, a prospect Pelzer said he’s excited for considering the league’s prestige.
Pelzer is the latest left-handed pitcher in the Rock Hill area to notch a high-major offer. Ethan Darden (class of 2022) of Rock Hill’s Northwestern High School committed to ACC power Clemson earlier this month, and Kyle Percival (2022) of Lancaster County’s Andrew Jackson announced his commitment to UNC-Chapel Hill in June.
This story was originally published July 23, 2021 at 10:23 AM.
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