Bamberg Ehrhardt Young But Talented

By Neill Kirkpatrick

Special to the HSSR



Bamberg – When Spring time approaches it also signals the start of high school baseball season across the country and in South Carolina Spring time is synonymous with 15 times state champion Bamberg Ehrhardt.

The Red Raiders haven’t reached the championship series since 2015 and each year when the season starts that is always one of the team goals for the season. Heading into the 2025 season

Head coach Gene Schwarting has a young with only two seniors but expectations remain the same.

 “We play for state championships here, coach Horton coached here 45 years, and you see all the state championships he set the standard. The region championship is the first step. We hope to keep rolling at the end of the year and stay hot in the District, Lower State and then the State,” said coach Schwarting.

Coach continued, “We have started off slow in the Wyndham turf (Pelion) pre-season tournament earlier this year but hope to get it going once the regular season starts. We have a solid team that should get better as the season goes and we get deeper into the schedule.”

Seniors Weston Stokes and Brent Amaker are the leaders of the team. Stokes is a returning class A All-State selection. He is the ace of the pitching staff and when not on the bump he is the team’s shortstop. Very disciplined hitter, who uses the entire field. He has also been named all-region the past two years.

Amaker sees most of his time behind the plate but also plays first base for the Red Raiders. He played in the outfield last season.

The rest of the pitching staff are Dakota Black, Cooper Sandifer, Tripp Brewer, Chase Collins, Nasir Singleton, and Davis Ehrhardt.

“Our pitching should be our strength this year with most of our pitchers returning from last year, so we will be still very young but they will have that experience and familiarity with each other,” coach Schwarting said.

The infield has Collins at first base, Black at second, Singleton at shortstop (when Stokes is on the hill), Wade at third and Amaker behind the dish. Collins and Singleton are eighth graders.

Backing up Amaker are eighth graders Asiel Graham and Ehrhardt. Graham will also see time a third for the Red Raiders.

Sandifer and Brewer our joined in the starting outfield by BJ Ayer. Each player will also play in the infield when needed.

Chaz Breland, Riley Caddell, Reese Caddell and Josh Jennings will help anchor the outfield.

“We have only two teams to play in our region this year, so we had to add several non-region teams to fill the schedule. I am Excited for the year and hope to stay healthy, play well and make a run in May,” coach said.