2018 infielder commits to Gamecocks

The South Carolina baseball program received big news Monday night when class of 2018 shortstop Blaze Alexander committed to the Gamecocks.

The sophomore from Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Fla. visited USC this past weekend and said he loved everything about Columbia. He called Carolina coach Chad Holbrook to commit Monday night before announcing the news on Twitter.

“I like the campus. It’s set up really cool. The sports facilities are amazing, they’re the best in the country. The coaches are amazing. They treated me and my family very well,” Alexander said. “I really just like everything about South Carolina.”

Alexander was recruited by Florida, Florida State, Miami, NC State, Virginia and others but said after spending a weekend at South Carolina there was no reason to wait to commit.

“I liked it so much I knew it was the place I wanted to be at,” he said.

Holbrook tweeted that receiving a commitment from “one of the best players in the country” never gets old, and Alexander said USC coaches have told him he is the top shortstop on their board for 2018.

“They want me to be their guy as soon as I get there at shortstop,” he said. “Obviously I have to show what I can do and prove it to them, but they talked to me like I’m their No. 1 guy at shortstop.”

Alexander said his strengths are fielding and arm strength and added USC coaches have told him they like his presence on the field.

He helped his team reach the 4A state title game last year as a freshman, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs in the state championship loss to Jacksonville Trinity Christian. He was the only starter on his team who was not a junior or senior.

He added it was exciting to see Holbrook’s tweet after he called him with the news.

“That was amazing. That’s another reason I committed there,” he said. “To have a head coach tweet about you like that to a school you just committed to is great.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 10:51 PM with the headline "2018 infielder commits to Gamecocks."