Medlin crafts Sumter’s summit

Tim Medlin never knew if this day would come. But now that it finally has, he can’t wait to embrace the moment.

In his 19th season as a head college baseball coach, fittingly, the man everyone calls “One-Nine” for his uniform number has reached the pinnacle after guiding his USC Sumter team to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.

During his 17 seasons coaching Newberry from 1989 to 2005, he fell short of reaching the NAIA World Series.

“You wonder at that point, ‘Hey, maybe it just doesn’t happen,’” Medlin said.

The Fire Ants (43-19), who are in their eighth season as a program and second under Medlin, earned a berth in the World Series by knocking off Potomac State (W.Va.) College in the championship game of the National Junior College Athletic Association Eastern District tournament.

They open the 10-team World Series with Saturday’s 5 p.m. game against the defending national champions, No. 1 Iowa Western (52-5), at Sam Suplizio Field. The hard-charging Medlin, who also coached the summer collegiate league Columbia Blowfish from 2006-09, had high hopes for this group of players despite losing the majority of his regulars from last season’s 41-15 team that lost in the district finals.

“Everybody laughed at me around here (at the season’s start) when I told them that I thought it would be a better club,” Medlin said. “I felt like this team could be special based on the personalities and based on the talent. I was excited from Day One and had high expectations. Kids had to bear the brunt of that because I pushed them hard.”

Medlin loves the makeup of his team, which features tough, hard-nosed players who show up and get after it every day. Right-hander Colie Bowers, a former Lexington standout, said the players appreciated how hard Medlin pushed them.

“Without him, I don’t know if this team would have done what it was capable of doing,” Bowers said.

Bowers, who leads the pitching staff with a 9-1 record and 1.64 ERA, is competing in his first season with the Fire Ants after two injury-plagued years, which included Tommy John surgery on his elbow, with the College of Charleston. He liked Medlin from his high school years, and he saw the program’s potential as he looked to transfer.

It has worked out perfectly for him.

“It’s been unreal, honestly. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid,” Bowers said. “This is one of the biggest stages you can play on the college baseball level. I remember running out on the field after the third out of the last inning (in the district championship), and it didn’t even feel like it was happening.”

USC Sumter has received solid pitching from Michael Carpin (5-2, 2.18 ERA) and a sound bullpen. The offense has gotten big hits all season from outfielder Brett Auckland (.313, 35 RBIs, 18 stolen bases), first baseman Tee Dubose (,323, 40 RBIs) and shortstop Justin Hawkins (.311, 6 homers, 37 RBIs).

Auckland, a sophomore who attended Chapin High, will move on to play for Presbyterian next season. But he’s ready to take this ride as long as it will carry him and his teammates.

“It’s an incredible feeling, especially to be the first team from USC Sumter, as well as any of the USC junior college branches, to go this far,” Auckland said. “I knew we had a young group coming in, and I wasn’t sure how we were going to mesh. As the season progressed, it became what I thought it could be. This is an incredible group of guys.”

Medlin would love to turn the program into a perennial JUCO power like the one up the road at Spartanburg Methodist. He knows the Pioneers still are the standard-bearer.

“We don’t talk about being on that level,” Medlin said. “We’re going to do our work, we’re going to show up and we’re going to grind.”

Auckland believes the work ethic of the Fire Ants has made the difference in this special season.

“That really set us above some other teams,” he said.

The reward has now arrived with a game against top-ranked Iowa Western.

“You’ve got to play them just like they’re any other team,” Auckland said.