Laurens Academy baseball reaches semifinal series of SCISA AA state playoffs
Caleb Hardy, Riley Whittaker, Wyatt Little selected to play in SCISA All-Star Game
Laurens – Darryl Halbert wasn’t quite sure, but when the Laurens Academy baseball team beat Andrew Jackson Academy in a first-round series in the SCISA AA state playoffs, he knew it had been a while since it had happened.
“I think it was 2015,” said Halbert, LA’s veteran head coach, at the time.
Whenever it was, it made for an outstanding season for the Crusaders.
“I was very impressed and really satisfied with the way our season progressed from February into May,” said Halbert, whose team finished with a 13-8 record after taking eventual state champion Dorchester Academy to a third game ine semifinal series. “We got stronger and faster over the offseason, and that began to show as we got deeper into the season.
“It was our first playoff series win in quite a while. I was happy for the young guys experiencing good playoff baseball this early in their careers, but I was especially happy for the older guys that got to experience playoff success, in particular our only senior, Braydon Burke. He's played his behind off for us for five years, and he was able to advance in the playoffs. We didn't get him a ring, but we got dang close.”
With Burke being the only senior, that means Laurens will return everyone else. That includes three players who were selected to play in the SCISA North-South All-Star Game, junior catcher Caleb Hardy, freshman shortstop/pitcher Riley Whittaker and eighth-grade pitcher/third baseman Wyatt Little.
Little led LA with a .409 batting aerage. He had eight double, 17 runs batted in and 18 runs scored. Whittaker batted .361 with 14 Rbi and 28 runs. Hardy batted .266 with four doubles, two home runs and a team high 19 RBI.
Pitching-wise, Little had a 3-3 win-lossrecord with a 4.08 earned run average in 34 1/3 innings pitched. Whittaker worked 30 innings and had 54 strikeouts to go with a 3-2 record and a 1.87 ERA.
