The Sumter High School varsity baseball team had a nice run of it over the weekend, winning three of four games and finishing third in the Red Bank Invitational at White Knoll High in Lexington.
So what do the Gamecocks get for a reward this week as they open the regular season? A home game against Blythewood, which beat them 11-1 on Friday in the invitational, today and a home game against A.C. Flora, which they beat 5-4 on Sunday, before traveling to West Florence on Friday to open Region VI-4A play.
“We’ve developed a little camaraderie with those guys,” said SHS head coach Brooks Shumake, whose team’s game against Blythewood begins at 6:30 p.m. “We’ve been knowing them through the years and the type of programs they have. We know it is going to be good competition.”
Shumake was pleased with the way his team held up in the invitational, especially with three pitchers he’s counting on to play major roles this season — right-handers Tyler Smith and lefty Jordan Montgomery — unable to pitch.
MONCKS CORNER — Excuse Stephen Curtis and Tony Micklon if they try to find a way to make a return trip to Berkeley High School's Jim Bradley Field. The two Sumter High School baseball players have found a home run groove at the park.
After the duo hit back-to-back solo homers in the Gamecocks' 5-1 first-round win over the Stags on Thursday, Curtis hit a 2-run homer in the fourth to put SHS in the lead and Micklon added a 2-run blast in the sixth to put an exclamation point on a 4-run inning as Sumter won 12-3 on Monday to advance to the championship round of the District VIII tournament of the 4A state playoffs.
Sumter, which improved to 21-7 on the season, will play at Summerville on Wednesday and will have to beat the Green Wave twice to win the district. The first game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
The game was tied 2-2 entering the fourth inning when Berkeley brought in right-handed pitcher Thurman Pellman to replace left-handed starter Thomas Brittle. Michael Blackmon reached on an error to lead off the inning. After a sacrifice, Curtis hit a towering shot over the fence in left-center field to give the Gamecocks a 4-2 advantage.
"If I could, I would come back again," said Curtis, who tomahawked a homer out to rightfield off of Pellman on Thursday. "It was a high fastball that I got a hold of."
In the sixth, Cam Sessions was on the mound for Berkeley. He gave up a 2-run double to Matt Price before Micklon followed with a 2-run shot down the leftfield line.
"This is a relatively small field, but Stephen and I are just seeing the ball well right now," Micklon said. "We've been working real hard and we've been getting a lot of help from (Sumter head) Coach (Brooks) Shumake."
Sumter added four more runs in the seventh, three of them coming on a homer from Bruce Caldwell. After getting just three hits in a 5-3 loss to Summerville on Saturday, Sumter had 16 against five different Berkeley pitchers on Monday.
"It was good to see us hit the ball like that," Shumake said. "We're going to need to produce like that on Wednesday against Summerville."
Freshman left-hander Jordan Montgomery started on the mound for SHS. He worked three innings, giving up two runs and three hits. Shumake was pleased with his effort.
SUMMERVILLE — Sumter High School only had three hits in its winners bracket game in the District VIII tournament of the 4A state playoffs against Summerville on Saturday at the Summerville field. That didn't mean the Gamecocks didn't have runners on base, however.
SHS left nine runners on base, hit into a double play with the bases loaded and had a baserunning mistake that cost it as it dropped a 5-3 decision to the Green Wave.
The loss means Sumter will travel to Moncks Corner on Monday to face Berkeley at 7 p.m. in an elimination game. Berkeley, which Sumter beat 5-1 on Thursday, beat Richland Northeast 15-0 on Saturday to stay alive and knock RNE out of the tournament.
The game was originally scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. but didn't start until almost 8 because of a heavy storm that came through in the afternoon. Once the game did start, there was a human rain delay as the game took almost three hours to play.
The Gamecocks, who fell to 20-7 on the season, only had one hit through the first fix innings before getting two in the seventh. Summerville starting pitcher Pat Dolan walked nine batters, however, including Stephen Curtis and
Tyler Smith three times each, and hit another, but he was able to get himself out of most of the jams.
"We just didn't cash in when we had the opportunities," said SHS head coach Brooks Shumake. "We just weren't able to get the hits when we needed to. We just left the runners on base."
Bruce Caldwell got SHS's first hit in the third inning, and it was a 2-run home run that put the Gamecocks on top 2-1. Sumter had Dolan on the ropes at that point, but couldn't deliver the knockout punch.
Dolan, who worked 6-plus innings and threw close to 140 pitches, walked Matt Price, Curtis and Smith after Caldwell's homer to load the bases with one out. Dolan struck out Tony Micklon and Stephen Stafford, however, to get out of the jam.
After Summerville rallied for a 3-2 lead with two runs in the fourth, Sumter had a rally going in the sixth when Bryan McDaniel reached on an error and Matt King walked to bring the top of the order up with one out. The inning came to an end, however, when a ball went off the glove of Summerville catcher Brett Wheeler and pinch runner Cam Martin broke for third before deciding to return to second. King was heading to second, however, and Sumter ended up with two runners on the bag. King was tagged out and Michael Blackmon struck out to end the inning.
A.C. Flora High had little trouble getting two strikes against Sumter on Friday night.
Two outs came rather easily as well. But the struggles to get the third out cost the Falcons in the Forest Acres Classic final.
Sumter scored 10 runs, all with two outs, during the first three innings in a 13-0 victory at Falcon Field.
The clutch hitting meant the Gamecocks (13-3) headed back to Sumter unbeaten in four tournament games to claim the championship.
“Baseball is about timely hitting and knocking in runs when they are out there,” Sumter coach Brooks Shumake said. “We were able to do that tonight. We felt real fortunate to have those bats do that.”
Even though Sumter scored four in the first, five in the second and one in the third inning, A.C. Flora (9-6) was closer to hanging with the Gamecocks than the score indicated.
The Gamecocks put two on with two out in the first and A.C. Flora starting pitcher Will Freeman had Tyler Smith in a two-strike hole. But Freeman’s next pitch caught too much of the plate and Smith blasted it over the wall in center for a three-run home run.
“When we get two strikes, we normally shorten up (on the bat) and try to just put the ball in play,” Smith said. “He just hung a change-up, and I just poked the bat out there and it went pretty far over the fence.”
Tony Micklon drew a walk and Steven Stafford ripped a double, putting Sumter up 4-0.
Freeman retired the first two Sumter batters in the second inning but didn’t record another out. The next five Gamecocks reached base, four on hits.
Stephen Curtis made it 5-0 with an RBI single before Smith, who pitched Sumter into the final with a complete-game victory against White Knoll on Thursday, stroked a two-strike, two-run double for a 7-0 lead.
Sumter High School right-handed pitcher Matt Price and Hartsville righty Jordan Lyles gave everyone the pitching matchup that was expected when their respective teams met for the Region VI-4A lead on Tuesday at Gamecock Field.
However, it was errors that made the difference in the game that had more than its fair share of Major League Baseball scouts in attendance to check out the two pitchers.
SHS made three errors in the top of the first inning that the Red Foxes turned into two runs and Lyles made them stand up as Hartsville held on for a 2-1 victory.
"The mistakes we made early on ended up costing us," said Sumter head coach Brooks Shumake, whose team fell 8-3 on the season and 2-1 in region play. "It was one of those games where the team that made the fewest mistakes would win."
The first started innocently enough for Price, who has signed to play collegiately with the University of South Carolina, as he struck out the first two batters. He then walked Trevor Cassidy and Lee Tyner reached when Gamecock third baseman Stephen Curtis couldn't handle a ground ball.
Sumter tried to pick Cassidy off of second base, but the ball got away and Cassidy moved to third. SHS then tried to pick courtesy runner Dylan Usher off of first and that ball got away as well, with Cassidy scoring and Usher going all the way to third.
Usher scored when Lyles singled to left to make it 2-0.
"We work on the pickoff at second base a lot in practice, and when we had someone taking as big a lead as he (Cassidy) was, that's when we run out," said Shumake. "If we make the play, he's out. Then the ball rolls just far enough away where he can go to third."
Mark Morgan / The Item Sumter High's Matt King follows through on a swing during the Gamecocks' game against Hartsville on Tuesday. The Gamecocks lost 2-1.
Hartsville wouldn't scratch against Price again. Price, who fell to 3-1, finished with nine strikeouts and one walk and allowed just four hits. Lyles had three of the hits.
"Matt's been going through some tough times early in the games," Shumake said. "Against West Florence (a 3-2 SHS victory in which it rallied from a 2-0 deficit), we made some mistakes that hurt him there."
Lyles scattered seven hits while striking out 11 and walking one. The Gamecocks had runners in scoring position in five of the seven innings, but were only able to come through one time.
The last two 4A baseball state champions — Sumter High School and Hartsville High, respectively — will meet today at 6:30 p.m. at Gamecock Field. While an important game, all that will be on the line today will be sole possession of first place in Region VI.
“It’s a big game, but I don’t want to overstress it to our team,” said SHS head coach Brooks Shumake, whose team is 8-2 on the season and is 2-0 in region play. “We just want our team to go out there and play, be aggressive and play the game.”
Hartsville, the defending state champion, brings a 5-1 overall record and a 1-0 region mark into the contest. The Red Foxes beat South Florence 1-0 in their region opener and beat Conway 4-2 in the International Paper Classic in Georgetown.
The Gamecocks, who won the state title in ‘06 but failed to make the state playoffs last year, have won six games in a row. Two of those were region victories, 3-2 over West Florence and 7-0 over South Florence.
A big pitching matchup could be in the offing as well. Shumake will go with right-hander Matt Price, who has signed to play collegiately with the University of South Carolina. Shumake, who is a Hartsville High graduate, expects Red Foxes head coach Jacob Shumate to go with right-hander Jordan Lyles on the mound.
It wasn't pretty; in fact, it was downright ugly. However, baseball games aren't decided on style points, they either go in the win column or the loss column and Sumter High School was able to pick up a 'W' on Tuesday against West Florence.
The Gamecocks managed just two hits, the same as West Florence. Neither team scored an unearned run, but SHS managed to score three while the Knights had two for a 1-run victory at Gamecock Field.
"I'll take a win any day, no matter how you get it," said Sumter head coach Brooks Shumake, whose team improved to 6-2 on the season while winning its Region VI-4A opener. "It was really a battle of attrition tonight."
After scoring 18 runs in the final four innnings of an 18-11 win over A.C. Flora on Monday in which it had 18 hits, Sumter got a first-inning single from Bruce Caldwell and a sixth-inning double from Stephen Curtis off of West Florence left-handed pitcher Spencer Matthews. Neither of them scored.
The Knights, who fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the region after losing to South Florence 15-1 on Monday, jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings against Gamecock right-hander Matt Price. In the first, Chandler Smetana reached on a throwing error by Caldwell at shortstop, stole second base and scored on a bloop double into right-center field by Landis Lane.
West Florence's Dale Sylvester led off the second with a single and was sacrificed to second. After Price hit Chris Hughes with a pitch, Paul Pizutti hit a ground ball to Caldwell. Caldwell make a bad throw to second, allowing Sylvester to score and sending the other runners to second and third.
Price got out of the inning without further damage, striking out Keaton Lutcken and getting Matt Connelly to ground back to him. That was the start of Price retiring the final 17 batters of the game. Price finished the game with 11 strikeouts and no walks.
"It was huge, Price getting out of that right there," Shumake said. "Instead of having to get four runs on two hits, we just had to get three runs on two hits. We were able to do that. Fortunately, we had a pitcher on the mound who could help us do that."
West Florence had to help the Gamecocks though. Justin Simmons led off the third by striking out, but he reached first on a passed ball by Lane, the catcher. Cam Martin put down a sacrifice bunt, but third baseman Cody Ritch threw the ball away, allowing Simmons to score all the way from first and Martin to reach third.
COLUMBIA — The Sumter High School varsity baseball team rallied from a 9-0 deficit after three innings to beat defending 3A state champion A.C. Flora 18-11 on Monday at the A.C. Flora field.
The Gamecocks, who improved to 5-2 on the season, scored twice in the fourth, five times in the fifth and four times in the sixth to tie the game at 11-11. SHS scored seven runs in the top of the seventh to win the game.
Matt Price hit two home runs for Sumter. Bruce Caldwell, Stephen Curtis, Stephen Stafford and Tyler Smith each had three hits while Michael Blackmon had two.
Sumter's quest for a return to playoffs begins today against WF
After winning the 4A baseball state title in 2006, the Sumter High School Gamecocks didn't even reach the state playoffs last season. A major reason for them not making it back was West Florence. Both the Knights and SHS had two victories in Region VI last season; both of West Florence's victories came against Sumter, giving it the fourth — and final — spot from the region in the playoffs. The Gamecocks begin the trek of trying to get back in the playoffs today when they open their region schedule against — you guessed it — West Florence. The two teams begin play at 6:30 p.m. at the SHS field.
A scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks was at the Sumter High School baseball field on Wednesday to watch the Gamecocks' Matt Price pitch against Spring Valley. The SHS senior showed him plenty, both on the mound and at the plate.
The right-hander struck out nine batters and walked just one while the limiting the Vikings to two hits and went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, a home run and four runs batted in in Sumter's 11-1 victory.
"I found out he was here during the game," said Price, who pitched a complete game that was called after six innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. "I wasn't nervous at all; I was just trying to do what I could to help my team get a win."
Spring Valley, which fell to 1-4 on the season, got its only run in the top of the first inning. Price walked Andrew McCloskey with two outs and he scored all the way from first base when he was running on a single by Jake Zokan and Gamecock centerfielder Tyler Smith didn't initially pick up the ball off the bat.
After that, it was lights out for the Vikings. They didn't get another hit until the sixth when Zokan picked up a 2-out triple.
"Matt pretty much blew them away tonight," said Sumter head coach Brooks Shumake, whose team improved to 4-2 on the season. "He was throwing really well tonight."
"After the first inning, I got into a groove," said Price, who has signed to play with the University of South Carolina.
Price had plenty of help from his teammates at the plate. The Gamecocks picked up 15 hits against two Viking pitchers with everyone in the starting lineup getting at least one hit. Seven of the hits went for extra bases.
"I hope we continue with that," Shumake said. "I feel like we've got people up and down the lineup who swing the bat pretty well and have some pop in their bats We've got some pretty strong kids."
It will still be another nine months or so before Allen Caldwell steps foot on the campus of Clemson University as a student, but he made it official Saturday that's where he will get to school and play college baseball after he completes his time at Spartanburg Methodist College.
The former Sumter High School and Sumter American Legion Post 15 standout signed his letter of intent with Clemson during the early signing period and will play for the Tigers beginning with the 2008 baseball season.
"I can get it finally off my back," said Caldwell. "Finally signing feels a lot better."
Caldwell, who is starting in rightfield for SMC, committed to the Tigers verbally around March of this year during his freshman season. It didn't seem to bother Caldwell at all by not being able to sign.
Caldwell went on to not only lead the National Junior College Athletic Association with 90 runs batted in, he also batted .407 and was second in the division with 30 doubles — setting an SMC record.
CALDWELL
Caldwell was also named to the all-tournament team of the NJCAA World Series held in Grand Junction, Colo. He drove in the most runs in the series with 10 and tied for the most home runs with three. He went 10-for-28 for a .357 batting average.
Having lost five starters and two key pitchers from last season's 4A state championship baseball team, the odds were against Sumter High School defending its title. However, the Gamecocks' defense of the crown came to an end much sooner than anyone anticipated.
Needing a victory over West Florence Friday to secure a berth in the state playoffs, SHS gave up seven unearned runs in the second inning and dropped a 9-2 decision at the West Florence field.
The loss dropped Sumter into a tie for fourth place with West Florence. The two teams are both 2-6 and since the Knights beat SHS in both meetings, they get the region's final spot in the state playoffs.
"It's very disappointing in not making the playoffs for the first time in my time here in Sumter," said SHS head coach Brooks Shumake, who is in his 10th season with the Gamecocks. "This is something that is totally unacceptable. When you're in a 5-team region, it doesn't matter how young your team is, you should make the playoffs.
"When you're the one team that doesn't make the playoffs, it makes it look like that team didn't do everything it was capable of doing. We're going to have to look at our program from top to bottom."
When the 2007 baseball schedule was set with Sumter and West Florence ending their Region VI-4A schedules against each other, it was done with the idea that a great deal would be at stake. That is the case, but what is on the line is not what was expected.
Sumter, the defending state champion and region champion, will be playing West Florence, the region runner-up last season, for the region's final berth in the state playoffs when the teams meet today at 6:30 p.m. at the Knights' field.
"I had no idea that we would be in this situation," said Gamecocks head coach Brooks Shumake, who has a very young team after losing five position players and two key pitchers from the state championship team. "I expected to do a lot better than we've done, but we let a couple of games slip away. Our mindset always is to win the region."
SHS is 12-7 on the season and 2-5 in region play, while the Knights are 6-11 and 1-6. However, West Florence's lone victory was 5-3 over Sumter last month. Thus, if the Knights beat Sumter today, they will earn the final playoff spot and leave the Gamecocks on the outside looking in.
Attention is on tropical storm Ernesto and the affect it will have on HS football in the state on Friday. As it stands now, the game is still on for Friday @ Stratford. If this changes you will be alerted immediately, so stay tuned. Plans have already been tentatively made to make the game up on Saturday if the weather requires a change. (full story)
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