Mt. Pleasant - Some people called the 2023 Oceanside Collegiate baseball team the most talented, top to bottom, in the state.
But, even with six players signed or committed to Division I college baseball scholarships, winning a state championship can have its challenges.
The Oceanside Collegiate Landsharks withstood the challenges and capped a 28-5 season with the Class AA state championship. The Landsharks defeated Gray Collegiate, 4-2, in game two of the best-of-three series to sweep their way to the title. Oceanside won game one, 1-0, on Saturday night.
The Landsharks are repeat state champions, having won the Class AAA state title last season before realignment pushed them back to Class AA.
“We don’t just roll the ball out there and say ‘let’s go,’” OCA head coach Richie McCullough said. “We work hard, every single day. These guys put in the work. I’ve never seen a group with their type of work ethic. It doesn’t happen by accident. They work at this really hard. This is really special, It’s so amazing to see how much love the game and how much they love each other.”
OCA got all the runs they needed in the first inning, stringing together a two-run single by Chase Jarnagin around a hit batsman, two errors, and a sacrifice fly from Jackson Sobel.
Jarnagin, the starting pitcher, made that lead stand. He did not allow a hit until the sixth inning when he allowed the only two runs for Gray. He left allowing two singles.
Sobel, as he did often this season, came in relief and stranded the bases loaded in the sixth. He set the side down in order in the seventh.
“This means more, just being able to grind out the season and watch it all come together,” said Sobel, the Class AA pitcher of the year. “We had some ups and downs, some adversity we had to work through, but we put it all together in the playoffs,
“It has been a challenging season, just going in with high expectations and everyone on the outside thinking we should win every game. Every team we played treated their game against us like a world series, but we found a way to focus and just play the game one at a time.”
McCullough says losing a lot of the top talent from this team makes winning all the more special for him as a coach.
“It feels good, feels real good,” the coach said. “Here lately we were winning games 1-0, 4-2, 2-0, nothing was easy. They tested the heart but its good to have it done. We’re gonna miss these guys.”
Gray Collegiate coach Charles Assey, Sr., has taken the War Eagles to back-to-back state finals only to come up short. Gray won the Upper State title by beating Mid-Carolina twice on one night to earn a shot at OCA.
“Everyone knows that an error and a walk will beat you every time,” Assey said. “That’s what happened in the first inning. We hit a batter then make an error and they get a hit and we’re down. Just makes it very tough. That’s a great team. They are talented. It’s tough. A couple of breaks in game one, we get thrown out at the plate twice in a 1-0 loss. It takes some luck to win it, that’s for sure.”
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