Patriots Were On The Verge Of Making Lower State Baseball Finals

By Roger Lee

Contributing Writer 

North Charleston – The Fort Dorchester Baseball Team sent coach Ronnie Sayer off in style.



Sayer, who had retired from high school baseball but remained a coach for the City of North Charleston Recreation Department, agreed to coach the Patriots for one final season after the coach that replaced him at Fort Dorchester left after only one season with the team. After all, Sayer knew all the members of the Patriots’ team so he wanted to do everything he could to help them have a good season in 2025.

“This group of guys is just incredible,” Sayer said. “I love each and every one of them to death. They work so hard and want it so bad. I’m so proud of their effort, mental toughness and just guts. You can’t take anything away from what these guys did this season.”

The team had one of the best seasons in program history. Fort Dorchester won the 2025 East Coast Invitational tournament, placed second in their region to earn a bye for the first round of the playoffs and won four out of five games against rival Summerville this season.

“We won 21 games and it has been a while since we had that kind of success,” Sayer said. “With me as the coach, 2019 is probably the season we hang our hat on and we had 19 wins that year. Our region was so tough. If it hadn’t been for James Island joining the region, we probably would have duplicated the success we had back then.”

The season saw Sayer claim his 100^th coaching win at Fort Dorchester. However, the season ended in the 5A, Division 1 Baseball District 4 Championship series.

Stratford handed Fort Dorchester a 2-0 loss in Goose Creek to clinch the district championship and advance to the Lower State finals, where it fell to eventual State Champion James Island. The Patriots finished the season with a 21-9 record.

“In the playoffs we just ran into a buzz saw with Stratford,” Sayer said. “They are a great team and Tony Osterman has done a great job with their program.”

Fort Dorchester opened the playoffs with a 6-1 win over Summerville. The Patriots lost to Stratford May 12, but stayed alive with a 7-6 victory over the Green Wave May 14 to advance to the district championship series.

The Patriots only have two seniors on the roster, catcher LJay Johnson and pitcher/infielder RJ Hamilton. Johnson is a Claflin University signee while Hamilton has signed to play for USC Sumter.

Hamilton was selected for the 1A/2A/5A South All-star Team. He was 6-3 on the hill this season with a 1.71 ERA. At the plate, he had a .333 batting average, .543 slugging percentage and .471 on base percentage. Hamilton had five doubles, three triples, two homeruns and 15 RBIs.

Fort Dorchester junior pitcher/middle infielder Banks Wickersham was named to the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association 2025 5A, Division 1 All-State Team. As a senior, Wickersham had a .410 batting average, .663 slugging average and .520 on base percentage. He finished with 34 hits including eight doubles, three homeruns and two triples while striking out only five times. He also scored 23 runs.

On the hill, Wickersham was 3-1 on the season with four saves. He had a 2.25 ERA and only surrendered nine earned runs and one homer. He struck out 32 batters while only surrendering eight bases on balls.

Other members of the team are Cannon Corder, Daniel Schenk, Carson Ridgway, Thomas Wamer, Alex Zapata, Ty Wollenbecker, AJ Watts, Dawson Boutin, Lucas Grecco, Cash Crone, Connor Baumgardner, Miles Tompkins, Luke Conroy, Nathan Clark, Lee Lovelace, Cade Ridgway, Samuel Damanti, Myles Dewese, Jansen Bohanon and Kanaan Jackson.