State-championship winning coach to lead baseball program at Lexington charter school
.JPG "Blythewood High baseball coach Banks Faulkner, middle, chats with Zac Cowan and Brandon Hucks before a game this season at the SC Diamond Invitational. The Bengals’ season ended with a 5-4 loss to JL Mann on May 20, 2021.")
After a short stint in the college ranks, Banks Faulkner is returning to high school baseball.
Faulkner will be the new coach at American Leadership Academy, a charter school opening in Lexington for the 2023-24 school year. ALA will play a junior varsity baseball schedule next year.
Faulkner was a standout at Lexington High School and is the latest high profile coach that ALA has hired, joining Robin Bacon (football), Sandra Dickert (girls basketball/volleyball) and Tyson Bouknight (boys basketball).
“I am extremely excited to be the first baseball coach at ALA-Lexington,” Faulkner said. “Growing up in Lexington I know first-hand how important baseball is in this community. It has always been a dream of mine to lead a program in Lexington and I think the potential at ALA is unlimited. I am excited to get started and help build a first-class program that everyone will be proud of.”
Faulkner was the pitching coach at Newberry College this year, but most of his experience has come in high school. Newberry won the South Atlantic Conference championship, winning 43 games before losing to Belmont Abbey in the Southeast Regional.
Faulkner’s Newberry pitching staff had a 4.17 ERA in conference play and Bennett Roemer was the SAC Freshman of the Year.
“It was a great experience at Newberry and definitely was a tough decision to make,” Faulkner said.
Before Newberry, Faulkner was head coach at Blythewood High School for six seasons. He had a 112-43 record while there, winning multiple region championships and leading the Bengals to the 2019 Class 5A championship series.
Blythewood’s 2022 squad won a school-record 30 games, was ranked nationally before losing to Fort Mill in the Upper State championship.
Faulkner also was the head coach at Summerville for two seasons and led the Green Wave to the 2016 Class 4A championship He was head coach at Wando for one season and has a 182-67 in nine seasons as head coach.
Before becoming head coach, Faulkner also had stints as an assistant coach at Lexington and Gilbert high schools.
This story was originally published May 31, 2023 at 8:59 AM.
