HSSR Basketball Rankings

SCHSL AAAA Baseball Top 10 (As of 4-12-2026) 1. Fountian Inn 2. Gray Collegiate 3. Airport 4. Wren 5. AC Flora 6. Hartsville 7. Gilbert 8. York 9. Hilton Head 10. South Florence When We Say Everybody Chasing Fountain Inn In The AAAA baseball Race We Mean It By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner-Fountain Inn (20-2) head baseball coach Blake Roland is surely smiling every time he fills out his line-up card, before his team plays a game, knowing that he has a quality group of players all committed to the game of baseball. In baseball we all know the pitcher on the mound can control the game. Well, Fountain Inn has three quality pitchers led by senior RHP Paul Passmore . Passmore has worked 39.1 innings on the hill with 50 strikeouts and he has a sterling ERA of 0.18. The next two pitchers are senior Parker Davis who has worked 27.1 innings with an unreal 56 strikeouts and he has an ERA of 0.26. Then for good measure throw in senior RHP Collin Wilson who has pitched 28/1 innings with 36 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.74. Is there a better all-around pitching staff on any other team in South Carolina?  Then you have seven players batting .280 or better led by Davis at .396 with an eye turning 24 RBI’s. Senior catcher Mason Guion is hitting .365 with 12 RBI’s and sophomore outfielder/pitcher Colby Keller is swinging it at .353 and 17 RBI’s. Other top Fountain Inn hitters include senior LHP’first baseman Anderson Hayes at .327 and sophomore third baseman/pitcher Cole Dawkins is at .294 while senior utility performer Daniel Rentz is at .286. Who have to believe that Fountain Inn is going to gas-up on high octane once the playoffs start in a few weeks. Gray Collegiate0(14-3-1, 9-0) is a strong number two in our HSSR ranking head under the co-coach’s set-up of assistants James Adams and Terry Oldaker , who are acting as co-coaches this spring. With the change at the top came a challenge for the seniors as well as the assistant coaches, in that they had to bear a larger responsibility to keep the team going in the right direction. “The team was challenged. It’s their season, not ours,” Adams said. “We put some captains in place; that’s never been done before. We’ve leaned on our seniors. We have given them some direction. They have done a phenomenal job with it.” After a 3-3 start, Gray won 11 straight games, including a 5-4 win over region rival and defending 4A champion Airport April 3. The War Eagles got off to a 4-0 lead by the fourth inning, but Airport scored one run in the bottom of the fourth and, after Gray got a run in the sixth, scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Relief pitcher Brogan Sox , who came on to start the sixth, retired three of four Eagles batters to earn the save to starter Zak Perry’s win. “This is No.1 and No. 2 in the region,” Adams said. “It came down to the wire. We had our guys on the bump tonight. We dealt with adversity; we got it done. I’m proud of them, they grinded it out slowly but surely.” Perry is 5-0 on the season with a 0.24 earned-run average in his five appearances and 38 strikeouts. Sox is 2-0 with a 2.48 ERA in six appearances. At the plate Kaleb Holmes leads War Eagle batters with 40 or more at-bats with a .356 average. Chase Starkey is batting .354 with 17 hits and a team-high 19 RBI, and Garrett Blankenship isn’t far behind with a .346 batting average, 18 hits. Noah Styron (.346), M.J. Hornsby (.245), and Perry (.319) all have a home run. After a strong stint in the Gilbert Invitational over Spring Break, the War Eagles’ season goes into its final stretch. Gray faced Brookland - Cayce twice this week and takes on second-place Gilbert next week. How those two series play out will determine how good a seeding the War Eagles get in the postseason. Beyond the push for the playoffs, Adams said he and Oldaker want to make sure the team stays loose and ready for anything that comes along. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. We’re going to keep doing what we are doing,” Adams said. “We’re going to let the boys have fun. We’re going to practice hard and be wise with our time. We want to take the same approach to every game no matter who the opponent is that we are playing.” Look for AC Flora and Hartsville to make strong runs in the AAAA baseball playoffs as well.