Trio of JUCO pitchers commit to South Carolina baseball

A trio of junior college pitchers committed to South Carolina Thursday night as Hunter Lomas, Gage Hinson and Ridge Chapman announced their intentions to play for the Gamecocks.

The three are close friends and are currently playing at Spartanburg Methodist College. They will be a part of next year’s recruiting class.

Lomas is from Blythewood, while Hinson prepped at Buford and Chapman attended Wade Hampton.

“When the whole recruiting process started for all of us we were getting looked at by the same schools and we talked about it and decided we would like to go somewhere together,” Lomas said. “All three of us are very close so when Carolina called we knew that this could very easily be the one. From the time we left the visit we couldn't talk about anything else.”

Chapman made 15 starts for SMC as a freshman and went 7-3 with a 4.41 ERA. He struck out 94 batters in 63 1/3 innings pitched.

Lomas led the Pioneers in saves with four and had a 2.05 ERA. He struck out 14 batters in 22 innings pitched.

Hinson appeared in 10 games and finished 1-1 with a save. He had a 4.95 ERA and struck out 23 batters in 20 innings pitched.

Lomas added that the trio can’t wait to get to Columbia and get to work.

“We talked after they called us about how great of a program Carolina is and how their team expectations are very good every year so we decided that was where we all wanted to go,” he said. “Not to mention a top notch coaching staff and fans. So we pretty much liked everything about Carolina and it was an easy decision.”