Hilton Head Christian baseball team in search of third consecutive state title
Eagles win 22 of their first 23 games as SCISA AAAA state playoffs draw near
Bluffton – After winning the SCISA AAA state championship in 2024, the Hilton Head Christian Academy baseball team captured the AAAA crown last season in its first year in the classification.
With eight starters returning rom that squad, the Eagles were off to a 17-1 overall start this season with their focus squarely on a 3-peat. Head coach Jay Scarboro is not surprised by the results thus far.
“It’s a mature group of players,” said Scarboro, who was the head coach last season after being an assistant in ’24. “They are a battle-tested group since most of them have played over the last year or two. I know night in and night out what I’m going to get from them.
“That maturity has led to the 22-1 record (including an 8-0 record in Region 3). They are a pretty consistent group of guys.”
It can be said consistently spectacular in the case of senior centerfielder Slaide Burd and senior catcher Roman Colella. They are both in their third seasons as starters and are having tremendous seasons.
Burd, who has signed to play collegiately with Georgia Southern, owned a .557 batting average with a .617 on-base percentage. He had nine home runs and 31 runs batted in.
“He just sets the tone for our team,” Scarboro said of Burd, who is the leadoff hitter.
Colella, who is third in the batting order, was batting .386 with a .500 OBP. Colella, who has signed with Anderson University, had three homers and 26 RBI.
Scarboro said Colella, who was the AAAA Player of the Year last season, is as valuable defensively as he is offensively.
“Roman has been fantastic and is a great shutdown catcher,” the HHCA head coach said.
Batting in the 2 hole between Burd and Colella is junior second baseman Jackson Richardson. In his third season as a starter, Richardson was batting .391 with a .482 OBP to go with a homer and 16 RBI.
The trio was getting plenty of help from the rest of the lineup. Hilton Head Christian was averaging over 11 runs a contest.
Batting cleanup is sophomore designated hitter Josh Koepke followed by senior shortstop/pitcher Chip Hetzel and sophomore Dylan Gehm, the lone newcomer to the starting lineup.
The No. 7 hitter is freshman third baseman Stone Burd, Slaide’s younger brother. Batting eighth is senior infielder/outfielder Will Mahl with freshman first baseman/pitcher Colt Spargur flipping the order.
The left-handed throwing Spargur is a standout on the mound. He had 59 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched against just four walks. He owned a 0.72 earned run average.
“He’s 6-(feet)-2(-inches), he goes downhill and he’s tough,” Scarboro said.
Junior Tucker Nelson has also worked 29 innings and has a 1.69 ERA. He had 37 strikeouts while walking only four like Spargur.
Hetzel is the “wild” man among the starters. He had walked a “whopping” 10 batters in 21 innings while fanning 23. He had a 1.64 ERA.
Mahl had worked significant innings as well at 20 2/3 with a 5.42 ERA. Gehm was steady out of the bullpen, owning a 2.21 ERA in 6 1/3 innings over five appearances.
Other members of the team are junior Liam Lyons, junior Eli Morgan, junior Casey Rizzo and junior Mason Mikkelson.
While the focus has been on getting ready for the state playoffs, Scarboro said the Eagles have had no problems with the day-in, day-out routine of the regular season.
“Our guys are so competitive,” he said. “We do our best with our practices and our games. Every practice we try to motivate and push them.
“Our guys are very analytical. They compete against each other, but it’s still about winning. It’s not really hard to motivate them. They are a super competitive group.”
