Hanahan - In the long and storied history of the state’s oldest spring break high school baseball tournament, the host of the Hanahan Invitational Tournament had never won the championship. That changed on Thursday night. Hanahan High defeated Berkeley, 12-5, to win the Steadman Division of the 54 th annual Hanahan Invitational Tournament (HIT), marking the first time the Hawks had been able to hoist their own trophy. Hanahan overcame an early 4-0 deficit, rallying for their 19 th win in 21 games this season. The Hawks are the top-ranked team in Class AAA and the defending Lower State champions. “I knew this team was special going into it and they played like it,” Hanahan’s first-year head coach Skylar Hunter, himself a Hanahan graduate, said. “I am proud of the way they played. It was definitely a good night. We definitely wanted to win this thing. It was a goal.” Hanahan sophomore centerfielder Sterling Coaxum was the tournament’s most valuable player, belting three home runs, including two grand slams, during the week. Berkeley struck for four runs in the top of the first inning, with Bryson Heath delivering two runs with a double and Gavin Gaskins scoring Heath with a double. Hanahan responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning as Riley Turner and Jacob Bunting delivered run-scoring safeties. Berkeley added a run in the second on Mason Salisbury’s RBI single, giving the Stags a 5-2 lead, chasing Hanahan starting pitcher Porter Sprovero. “If I’m being honest, with our guys, there really was no concern,” Hunter said of the early deficit. “We were playing a little flat so we had to dig into them a little bit, light the fire. They responded.” With his two top pitchers unable to pitch, Cox went with sophomore Keller Wofford on the mound. Wofford pitched admirably in his first-ever varsity start but ran out of gas in the third. He allowed three earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. Hanahan took advantage of two Berkeley errors and posted five runs in the third. Bunting tripled in two runs to trim the deficit to 5-4. Hanahan added three more runs in the frame to move ahead, 7-5. Hanahan put the game away with five runs in the fifth with Hunter Sprovero delivering a key two-run double. “Berkeley has a good team, well-coached, a lot of good kids. I like the fire and the passion they bring. I will take that,” Hunter said. Hanahan has much bigger aspirations this season, mainly winning the state AAA championship. The Hawks lost to Clinton in last year’s finals and have played like a team on a mission all season. Winning the HIT could serve as a way to get into a postseason frame of mind. “There’s two ways to go after this,” Hunter said. “You can use this as a hammock and just lay back and say ‘we did it,’ or you can use it as a spring board and keep moving,” Hunter said. “I know this group and I know they are very hungry. They have a chance to do something really big and I don’t see this group being satisfied.” Berkeley’s Connor Barham had two RBI’s and Gaskins delivered two doubles. Heath also tallied two hits for the Stags. Hanahan relief pitcher Ryan Ballard earned the pitching victory, allowing just two hits with six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Berkeley reached the finals with a 6-3 win over Wando earlier in the day while Hanahan edged McCracken County, Kentucky, 4-3. In the Hatfield Division of the tournament, Great Bridge of Virginia defeated Western Branch of North Carolina, 9-5, in nine innings.

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By Rob Gantt Special to the HSSR HANAHAN - Hanahan High School shows up at the softball diamond every night with a squad comprised mostly of underclassmen and eighth graders this spring. The opportunity is there for the Hawkettes to prove tradition never graduates on Murray Drive. They have captured region crowns eight straight seasons and will clearly be in that conversation again. “We’re really young,” Hanahan coach Katrina Moffett said. “We have a lot of returners, but they’re not in the same position they played last year. We lost three starters who were seniors, and some juniors decided not to play. We have an almost brand new lineup out here.” Moffett’s bunch is deepest inside the circle, with four experienced hurlers seeing action there this spring: senior Ashlyn Harrison , junior Gabby Colantuoni and sophomores Isabel Hildebrandt and Briar Mros . Colantuoni and Harrison logged the most innings in 2023 and finished with sub-2.00 earned-run averages. Moffett is counting on the group to become more consistent and get better ball movement as the season progresses. “We’ve got to find that competitiveness and put it all together,” Moffett said. Among the players returning are all-region selections Alex Stuckey and Mros. Stuckey, a senior batting in the three-hole, has moved from first base to catcher, and Mros is a sophomore center fielder. Both players batted over .400 in 2023, and Stuckey led the squad in RBIs. Harrison and junior Camdyn Lawson man the right side of the infield at first base and second base. Eighth-grader Jamie O’Connor also sees time at first base. Freshman Camryn Fowler and Hildebrandt are on the left side of the dirt at shortstop and third base. If Hildebrandt pitches, Lawson shifts to the hot corner. Senior left fielder Sam Hannah and sophomore right fielders Aubrey Cribb and Siena Combs will join Mros on the grass. More team members are eighth-graders Dria Tolbert , Maci Brown and Maggy Priddy . “We have some kids who can swing it well,” Moffett said. “It’s a matter of coming through in big situations. The other night, the bases were loaded against West Ashley, but nobody was out, and we didn’t score. We’ve got to come through in the clutch.” The Hawkettes coasted past visiting North Charleston in their Region 8-3A openers Tuesday, March 19. They improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the league, with 16-0 and 15-0 victories in two and a half innings. They also have a 5-1 win over West Ashley and losses to Summerville, 12-2, and Cane Bay, 10-7. Hanahan continued its region slate March 26 with a 9-2 win at Battery Creek. Stuckey had two hits and two RBIs and Hildebrandt fanned 10 batters over seven innings inside the circle. Neither Battery Creek run was earned. Hannah chipped in two hits for the Hawkettes.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Summerville — No doubt, Hanahan (AAA) and Summerville (AAAAA) are deep baseball playoff teams in their respective classifications this season, and 14 major league scouts, including the National Scouting Director for Detroit , were on hand to scout Summerville senior outfielder PJ Morlando and Green Wave senior power pitcher Carson Messina , with both players signed on with South Carolina, when the two teams met on March, 18. Hanahan improved to 8-2 on the season with a 4-1 win over the host Green Wave. Senior (R-R) Gabe Dotterweich struck-out 12 batters, allowed only one hit and two walks, over his six innings of work. At the plate, Hanahan was led by Landon Gomes who went 2-of-four while Hunter Gomes , sophomore Hudson Sprovero , and junior Joe Furse each added one hit for the winning team. After the game, first-year Hanahan High varsity head coach Skyler Hunter shared his thoughts, “Gage Dotterweich worked his butt off tonight,” said Coach Hunter. “He had all his pitches working and he was keeping them off-balance. He was going in-an-out. He pitched very well for us. “We have seven starters back from last season and we feel like we can compete for a state championship this season,” said Coach Hunter. “I give credit to my team. They competed and battled, and they ran Carson’s pitch count up early, with a lot of 3-2 counts early in the game. This situation might have led them to changing pitchers a little sooner than they had hoped. “In all honesty, with a ton of talent back from last year, our players and coaches know that this team is very good, and we felt like if we just came in here relaxed, and played up to our potential, we could win this game,” said Coach Huntley. “Summerville is a very well-coached and talented team and you don’t have 12 to 14 major league scouts at your game otherwise. “As long as we stay focused on today, and not get caught looking ahead, this team is capable of competing for a state championship,” said Coach Hunter. “It has to be a total focus on playing one game at the time.” Coach Hunter also gave credit to Hawk’s pitching coach Bryce Flore , a former HSSR Mr. Baseball who went on to pitch in the big leagues, for calling a great game. Summerville’s two hits came from Drew Hayes and pinch hitter Chase Lewis who reached on a hit in the bottom of the 7 th after the Hanahan pitching change. Senior Carson Messina (6-3, 225) was the starting pitcher for Summerville and he worked three innings, striking out four batters, walking four batters, and giving up two hits. After starting the top of the 4 th , with consecutive walks, to Jacob Bunting and Oakley Aguiler , Messina was relieved by Thayer Tavormina who went the distance from that point. Messina’s fast ball was consistently clocked in the 93-to-95 mph range by the 12 scouts in attendance at the game, including the National Scouting Director for Detroit. Messina had difficulty pounding the strike zone, and while he throws hard, he will need to get his fastball down a little, and that should come at some point in the season. PJ Morlando , projected in some mock 2024 drafts as a first- round 19 th pick by the Mets was 0-1 with two walks at the plate. Messina was 0-3 at the plate. Summerville (now 6-4) plated their only run in the first inning. Tyler Thomas reached on a dropped third strike, stole second, and was brought in on a Hayes single. Hanahan scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Bunting and Aguiler drew consecutive walks to lead-off the inning. Next Hudson Sprovero loaded the bases with an infield hit. The Hawks then laid down a well-executed sac-bunt by Dotterweich to tie the game at 1-1. The Hawks went ahead for good when Furse bunted in Aguiler to make it 2-1. An infield hit by Landon Gomes brough in Sprovero to make it 3-1. Hanahan added an insurance run in the 6 th inning when Furse walked and advanced to second on a single by Landon Gomes. Gomes scored his team’s final run on an RBI single by Hunter Gomes. After the game Summerville head coach Thayne Manes, in his first year with the team after head coaching at Carolina Forest team last year, told the HSSR, “If we learned anything tonight, I hope it is that we can become a tougher baseball team after this game,” said Coach Manes. “Hanahan is a really tough and scrappy team and this is how they won the game tonight. “Carson might not have had his best stuff tonight but he still fought hard and competed and he gave us a chance to win,” said Coach Manes. “I thought we did not compete at the plate. I thought our bats were non-competitive for the most-part. Hats off to Hanahan. Their batters really grinded it our against Carson and Thayer and they believe they could win so many of the 3-2 counts they were involved in. “I felt like on our side we felt like for some reason we could not grind and win the at-bats We struck-out 12 times and not a whole lot of approach on those strike-outs. We didn’t put the ball in play enough while they did. They just appeared to be a tougher baseball team than we are at this point of the season. We will work on becoming a tougher team in practice tomorrow.” Summerville will next host James Island on March, 22, while Hanahan hosts Stratford on March, 20 before travelling to North Charleston on Friday to start region play with a double header.

By Rob Gantt Special to The HSSR HANAHAN - The Hanahan High School baseball team made it all the way to the Class AAA state championship series last spring, ultimately settling for the runner-up trophy. With seven seniors on the roster and some key newcomers ready to make an immediate impact in 2024, the Hawks are back in the conversation for the big trophy again. First-year Hawks coach Skylar Hunter, a former HHS and Citadel standout, recognizes his team’s ability. They were tabbed Class AAA’s No. 1 team by the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association in late January. “Everybody can look around and see the talent level is obvious,” Hunter said, “but it’s doing all the little things right every day and not getting too far ahead of yourself. We’re on the same page. They’re competitive kids but they know it’s not about rankings or outside perception. It’s about how good we play and how we go about our business. We don’t want to be No. 1 on Jan. 22. We want to be No. 1 on May 25.” The Hawks return plenty of talented players from the 2023 squad and have six players with college destinations already picked out. On the mound, seniors Gabe Dotterweich ( Florence-Darlington ), Hunter Gomes ( Francis Marion ) and Porter Sprovero ( USC Lancaste r) are a solid set of arms coming back. In the field, senior Landon Gomes ( Francis Marion ) is back in the outfield and three of four infield spots have starters returning: senior first baseman Hunter Gomes , senior second baseman Jacob Bunting and senior third baseman Riley Turner. New shortstop Oakley Aguilar, who transferred in from a baseball academy, is a senior headed to Radford . Dotterweich sees time in the outfield and on first base, too. Another key newcomer is sophomore Sterling Coaxum , who can play on the outfield or infield. The Clemson commitment transferred in from Oceanside Collegiate . Sophomore Bo Brabham is another pitcher and sees time at third base. Sophomore Hudson Sprovero handles the team’s pitchers from the behind the dish. Junior Joe Furse starts in the outfield. The Hawks open the regular season March 5 at Fort Dorchester . They went 3-1 in the Shipyard Showdown by Prep Baseball Report Feb. 29-March 3. The Hawks knocked off Legion Collegiate (7-1), Riverside (6-1) and Lucy Beckham (14-2). The lone blemish was a 10-4 loss to James Island , ranked seventh in Class 4A. In the win over Legion, Hunter Gomes collected three hits and Turner drove in three runs. Against Riverside , Coaxum collected three hits and scored twice from the leadoff spot as the designated hitter. In the win over Lucy Beckham , Turner had three hits and two RBIs. Bunting added two hits and three RBIs. Landon Gomes knocked in two runs against James Island . Dotterweich, Brabham and Sprovero earned pitching victories in the preseason tournament.

Hanahan – With a new head coach, Milan Turner, and a new way of doing things, the Hanahan High football team got off to a slow start in 2023. But, as the old saying goes, “it’s not how you start, but how you finish. The Hawks sat with a 2-4 record heading into region 8-AAA play and most felt Hanahan would likely finish third in the region. But the Hawks had other ideas and went on a four-game winning streak to win the region championship. That streak included wins over Philip Simmons (undefeated at the time) and defending AAA state champion Beaufort. Hanahan opened the AAA state playoffs against Aynor on Nov. 3. “I give a tremendous amount of credit to our kids,” Turner said. “This group has been all-in since day one. They believed that we had a chance to be a good team. Even at 2-4, this team was playing hard and we were getting better. We just had to learn how to compete as a team, how to pick each other up. This team became a very close-knit unit and we were making less mistakes with each game.” Senior running back Kevon Rivera has saved his best season for his final season. Rivera rushed for 1,786 yards and 24 touchdowns during the regular season, including four games with more than 200 yards. He topped 200 yards in the wins over Philip Simmons and Beaufort, and had more than 300 yards in the season-opener against Georgetown. “Not only is he a great player, but he’s a great young man and a great teammate,” Turner said. “He loves this team and he loves representing Hanahan.” Sophomore quarterback Julius Hippensteel made steady progress throughout the season, finishing the regular season with 1,818 passing yards and 19 touchdowns while completing 66 percent of his attempts. Top receivers include Dru Goldsmith (49 receptions, 804 yards, 7 TD) and Landon Gomes (29-678, 9 TD). Hanahan used a rotation of linemen on both sides of the ball and the units became a steady strength of the team. Those linemen include Rhett Bagwell, Jonathan Tumbri, Antwain Mitchell, CJ Van Hoy, Kam Raymond, Kalani Roberts, Tre Summers and Zac Connors. Linebacker Jay Meadows led the team in tackles with 70 hits in the regular season. Hunter Gomes had more than 60 tackles. In other fall sports at Hanahan, the volleyball team finished second in region 8-AAA and qualified for the state playoffs. The team posted a first-round win over Georgetown before losing to Gilbert in the second round. The cross country teams participated in the region 8-AAA meet. For the girls team, Katelyn Bussell was the top finisher, checking in at sixth-place overall. Jade Ayers finished 17 th and Laini Taylor was 26 th . Elisea Meadows ran in 29 th -place. Logan Taylor earned all-region honors with a fifth-place finish on the boys side. Seth Parris was 17 th , Jacob Clark was 18 th , and Reece Keller was 21 st .

Hanahan – The 2022 football season is one that Hanahan High fans and players would like to forget. After winning their first six of their first seven games, the Hawks faltered down the stretch with a three-game losing streak. Head coach Art Craig was dismissed from his post in September and the Hawks managed to keep the ship afloat until the disastrous ending. After the season, three of the program’s top players transferred to other area schools, choosing not to wait until Hanahan hired a new head coach. That new head coach is Milan Turner, who coached for more than two decades in Georgia. Turner has worked hard all spring and summer to rebuild the morale and confidence in the program. Hanahan and Turner opened the 2023 season on a positive note, beating Georgetown, 45-34, in a week zero matchup. Turner has been pleased with how his team has persevered through the coaching transition. “The kids have responded well to all of the changes,” Turner said. “We had a good summer. We have worked hard in the weightroom. They are good kids and they have been committed. Now we have to make all of that hard work translate on to the field and I am optimistic that we can do that.” While breaking in a sophomore quarterback, Julius Hippenshiel, Turner plans to lean heavily on the most experienced offensive returner, senior running back Kevon Rivera. The 5-9, 215-pound Rivera will be a fourth-year varsity starter and has rushed for nearly 3,000 yards in his career. Rivera exploded for 331 rushing yards and six touchdowns in the season-opening win over Georgetown, “Kevon has been a great team leader and we plan to give him his carries,” Turner said. “He’s a physical runner and a really good running back. We think he can have a big year.” Look for Dylan Crocker and Javatre Shepard to get carries as well. H-back Landon Gomes will be a factor in both the run and pass game. Receiver Dru Goldsmith returns from last season as well. Two returning starters, seniors Jonathan Tumbri and Rhett Bagwell, will anchor the offensive line. Junior Antwan Mitchell, and sophomores Kalani Roberts and Tre Summers, are early season starters up front as well. Contributing at tight end is a solid group that includes Gomes, Hunter Strader, Aiden Greenwald, Josh Amara and Nick Barrett. Turner hopes to be physical on defense but that unit begins the season with very little experience. Several of the offensive linemen will rotate in along the defensive line. Strader will work at linebacker, along with Jay Meadows. Hunter Gomes is a first-year safety, along with Hayden Ortega and corner Taje Hartwell. The kicking game should be solid with senior Eric Johnson returning as the starter.

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