Chapin last unbeaten baseball team in Midlands
Chapin baseball coach Scott McLeod has been impressed with the way his team has handled its start to the season.
At 17-0, the Eagles are the lone unbeaten baseball team in the Midlands and took over the No. 1 spot in the Class 3A S.C. Baseball Coaches rankings this week.
“We try not to look at the rankings or read the papers and listen to the fans who are patting you on the back,” McLeod said. “But they have been pretty focused. I haven’t had to say a lot to them. I am worried about them now being too tight trying to maintain everyone’s expectations. But, so far so good.
“We knew we were going to be pretty good, but everything’s just kind of fallen in place. We have three great starting pitchers, our bullpen has been tremendous, we have played great defense and it is someone different every night.”
The Eagles have had some close calls in the unbeaten start, including rallying from a 6-1 deficit to defeat Lugoff-Elgin 7-6 in nine innings to win the Kershaw-Richland Classic last week.
One of the Eagles’ strengths has been their starting pitching, made up of Evan Estridge, Lawson Bemis and Tyler White. Estridge, a Newberry signee, leads the Midlands with six victories, while Bemis leads the team with a 0.89 ERA.
White, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, has three wins and also is second on the team with a .500 average and tops with 23 RBI.
Jordan O’Cain leads the Eagles with a .511 average and Robert King and Estridge each have 22 RBI. As a team, Chapin is hitting .366 on the season.
The Eagles’ lineup also has gotten a lift from the return of Newberry signee Collin Santiago, who battled injuries early in the season.
“We knew we were going to have a good squad,” said Estridge who was part of the football team’s 9-0 start this season. “We have had good camaraderie. We are having a ton of fun together. There is no selfishness. If someone goes 0 for 5, they are up on the fence cheering for their buddy.”
“It is not a surprise this year. It is a great group of guys,” White said. “I’m glad our senior season has started off well.”
Both Estridge and White said finishing an unbeaten regular season would be great, but the team has bigger goals in sight which includes a deep run in the postseason. The Eagles have key region games left against A.C. Flora and Camden to finish the regular season and are looking for their first state title since 2002.
“Baseball is a game of failure, so if we can go undefeated, it would be really special. That is definitely what we are going for. We don’t want to lose a game,” Estridge said. “But if we were to lose, it wouldn’t be the end of the season. We would just keep fighting and keep working to a state championship.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 2:23 AM with the headline "Chapin last unbeaten baseball team in Midlands."