Brookland-Cayce baseball on a roll, has sights set on ending region title drought
It has been more than a decade since the Brookland-Cayce baseball team has won a region championship, but the drought looks to be coming to an end.
The Bearcats finished off a two-game sweep of Gilbert with a 13-1 win on Thursday to increase their lead in the Region 5-3A standings. B-C defeated the defending Class 3A champions, 4-0, on Tuesday and are 5-0 in Region 5-3A with the toughest part of the region schedule complete.
Brookland-Cayce already swept Strom Thurmond, last year’s lower state runner-up, and defeated Fox Creek, whic puts it in the driver’s seat to win its first region title since 2008. The rest of the teams in the region have at least two losses already.
The Bearcats’ remaining region schedule is a pair of two-game series with Swansea and Orangeburg-Wilkinson and a makeup game against Fox Creek.
“I’m very proud,” Brookland-Cayce coach Rusty Charpia said. “We still have a lot of games to play but we are playing pretty good.”
Brookland-Cayce has been building toward this position since 2020. That year, the Bearcats got off to a 7-1 start until COVID-19 shut down high school sports across the country. Last year, B-C missed the postseason all together as just the top two teams made it from each region. The Bearcats suffered a pair of extra-inning losses to Strom Thurmond and Gilbert to hurt their playoff chances.
But this year, the Bearcats have all the makings of a deep postseason run and are ranked No. 2 in Class 3A, according to SC High School Baseball Coaches poll.
“Last year really lit a fire into us,” Brookland-Cayce’s Ty Marshall said. “We feel like we should have got into the playoffs, but it didn’t happen. But it’s a new year and we feel like we really got a good chance. We are going to keep pushing and do everything we can to keep it there.”
Marshall is part of a talented lineup and the Clemson commit is one of three Division I prospects on the roster. The junior catcher is committed to Clemson. Senior Skylar King is a West Virginia signee and tossed a two-hit shutout on Monday. The Bearcats also have Arkansas commit Hayden Thomas, who will miss the season after having Tommy John surgery.
Other players like BJ Etheridge, Parker Mergo and Mason Turner have stepped into bigger roles this season.
Etheridge, a sophomore, picked up the win on Thursday, allowing just one earned run on three hits while striking out seven. He also had two hits and drove in three runs.
Marshall had two hits and two RBI, and Turner had a two-run triple to make it 8-1 in the fourth inning. The Bearcats had 10 hits after getting just two in Tuesday’s victory.
“I really love the way the kids are playing and the kids are coaching,” Charpia said. “It is a lot of fun. They come to practice every day, you got to make them go home. They just love to compete. It is an exciting time to be part of the Brookland-Cayce program.”
WP: BJ Etheridge. LP: Cooper Burkett. Leading hitters: BC: Marshall 2-3 2 RBI; Etheridge 2-4 3 RBI; Turner 1-3 3 RBI; Gibbs 1-4 RBI. G: Burkett 1-3; Reynolds 1-3
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 10:36 PM.
