Grand Strand baseball teams well represented on all-state team

Seven area players, including three from Carolina Forest and two from St. James, were named to the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association All-State teams. In total, the area also earned 10 total spots on the state's all-star squads.

The all-state honors, released Thursday morning, comprise what is considered to be the best 95 players in the state across the four classes. Locally, that list includes the Panthers’ Jakob Frishmuth, Patrick Orlando and Hunter Baiden; St. James’ Grayson Stoneking and Anthony Peck; as well as Aynor’s Ian Prosser and Waccamaw’s Levi Almond.

Additionally, Carolina Forest’s Jack Jolly was named the Class AAAA Coach of the Year.

“With the season we had and the awesome players we have, I’m not surprised that we had three named to the all-star team and three more on the all-state team,” Jolly said. “There may have been a couple more who could have made it. But they were very deserving.”

Several of those players and a number of other locals were also formally announced as selections for the state’s all-star games. Frishmuth was the lone area player named to the S.C.-N.C. Select game – the sports version of the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.

Orlando, Stoneking and Almond were picked for the North-South games. Additionally, Conway’s Reid Hardwick, St. James’ Liam Bloom, Carolina Forest’s Ryan Gold, Myrtle Beach’s Michael Calamari, Waccamaw’s Carter Fox and Aynor’s Caleb Nobles were named to the North-South rosters. Fox and Gold withdrew due to scheduling conflicts, however.

The S.C.-N.C. Select games will be played June 15 and 16th in Cary, N.C. The North-South games will take place June 10th and 11th at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach.

Frishmuth, who signed with College of Charleston, struck out 61 batters in 59 innings this year, going 6-4. He also batted .333 and had a defensive impact from his spot in right field when he wasn’t on the mound.

Baiden was an offensive spark throughout the season, hitting .444 with 32 runs batted in. Half of his six home runs came in the playoffs.

Orlando, a two-time all-state pick, turned into the team’s closer and recorded a 1.61 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 39 innings. He has signed with North Greenville.

Peck had one of the more impressive pitching resumes in the area this spring. Heading into Game 1 of the Class AAA state finals (6 p.m. Thursday at St. James), Peck has a record of 9-0 with an ERA of 1.04 in 12 appearances.

Prosser and Nobles have been two of the driving forces for an Aynor team that is playing for the Class AA state title this week. The Blue Jackets face Strom Thurmond Friday at Riley Park in Sumter in the final game of the best-of-three series.

Almond, a catcher and pitcher who plans to sign with Erskine on Friday, batted .346 with 15 RBIs while going 4-2 with a 1.24 ERA and 51 strikeouts on the mound this spring. He was also named to the all-state team last year.

Calamari, a Darmouth signee, batted .429 this spring with 20 RBIs and 12 runs scored. Bloom enters the state finals series hitting .388 with 27 RBIs and 33 runs. Hardwick, who is headed to Winthrop, finished the season with a .343 batting average and 19 runs.

Dozier, who has signed to play football at Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte, tied the state’s all-time consecutive steals mark (69) this season and hit .368 while scoring 31 runs.

Jolly is the third area coach named the state Baseball Coaches Association’s coach of the year in any classification in the last decade. Socastee’s Curtis Hudson did so in Class AAA in 2014, with St. James’ Robbie Centracchio earning the honor for the 2011 season.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Grand Strand baseball teams well represented on all-state team."