It was a season of what ifs for the Belton-Honea Path baseball team
Bears finish 12-16 with six losses by one run and another coming in extra innings
Honea Path – The just completed baseball season was one of what ifs for Belton-Honea Path High School. The Bears finished with a 12-16 overall record and were fourth in Region 1-AAA with a 6-7 record. However, six of the losses were by one run and another loss came in nine innings.
“The season didn’t go great,” said BHP head coach Chad Roper. “The two highlights were playing in a preseason tournament championship and making it to the district championship in the state playoffs. The potential was there, but the consistency wasn’t.”
Belton-Honea Path’s performance in the District 4 tournament was as close to a perfect encapsulation to its season as one could find.
The Bears lost to Christ Church 2-1 in nine innings in the opening game. They rebounded with a 4-0 win over West-Oak in an elimination game. Up next was Region 3 champion Mountain View Prep, which had lost to Christ Church in the winners bracket game. BHP won 9-3 to advance to the district championship round.
Awaiting was Christ Church, which beat Belton-Honea Path 10-9 and 12-7 in the aforementioned 9-inning loss during the regular season. The Bears suffered another 1-run, extra-inning loss, falling 8-7 in eight innings.
Senior Rhett Turner was selected to play in the North-South All-Star Game as well as being chosen to the All-Region 1 team. He was joined on the All-Region team by senior Christian Jones and senior Aidan Jenkins.
Jones led BHP in hitting with a .380 batting average. Jenkins batted .364 and Turner hit .359.
Heading into the postseason, Turner was leading the team in runs batted in with 17 and hits with 29 to go with six doubles and 19 runs scored. Jones led in runs with 20 and doubles with seven to go with 13 RBI, while Jenkins had 28 hits, six doubles, 15 RBI and 11 runs.
Roper said Belton-Honea Path is headed into an important offseason.
“We lose eight seniors so development will be key this summer and preseason for some younger guys,” he said.
The other five seniors were KJ Miles, Preston Dixon, Lawson Nichols, Jakyri Anderson and Noah Lecroy, who was batting .414 in 30 at-bats entering the playoffs.
Some key players who are expected to return are sophomore Nick Sargent, junior Landon Davis, sophomore Jensen McCoy, sophomore Jud Lowrie, freshman Hunter Collins and junior Leelin Laburda.
Sargent was hitting .342, Lowrie .316 Davis .246 and McCoy ,237 as regulars.
