Brookland-Cayce baseball team packs experience in 2023

Posted 3/21/23

To start its 2023 campaign, Brookland-Cayce baseball has taken on some big-school competition.

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Brookland-Cayce baseball team packs experience in 2023

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To start its 2023 campaign, Brookland-Cayce baseball has taken on some big-school competition.

Early games have pitted the local squad against 5A foes Dorman and Lexington, resulting in losses that have dropped the preseason Top 10 Bearcats out of the rankings with a 4-4 record as of March 17. 

But the team is 2-0 so far in 3A Region 5, and head coach Rusty Charpia told the Chronicle the challenging early games served their purpose.

“We play tough competition early in the season, before we begin region play, to try to get better,” he said. “We play good teams with the idea it will make us a better team. We want to be tested when we play the teams in our region. Hopefully we will be ready for the teams in our region from playing bigger schools with a tradition of winning.” 

Charpia, also the Brookland-Cayce athletic director and head football coach, is in his sixth year serving as the Bearcats’ head baseball coach. In 2022, B-C fell just one game short of winning the Lower State championship in a game versus Oceanside. 

Charpia is hopeful his team can make a championship run in 2023.  

“Experience is our most obvious quality,” he said. “We have 10 or 11 players that have been with this team for multiple years. We have pitching, defense and hitting. We have good leadership, too.”

The top B-C pitchers are Hayden Thomas and BJ Etheridge, Charpia said . 

On defense, Ty Marshall, a Clemson signee, is behind the plate. Parker Mergo, who signed with Newberry on March 17, is the Bearcats’ first baseman. 

Seniors on the team are shortstop Jordan Gibbs, Jackson Thomas, Tanner Libbey, Jaxson Corley  and outfielder Tanner Staton, who has signed with Elon to play football. 

Robert McMillon, also a senior, came from Northside Christian and he starts at third base for B-C.

So far, the Bearcats are 2-0 in Region 5 games. Other teams in the region are Dreher, Gilbert, Lower Richland, Swansea and Orangeburg-Wilkinson. Dreher has started the season hot and has a 4-0 region record. 

Brookland-Cayce will face Dreher on March 28 at home and again on March 31 at Dreher. 

Before those showdowns, the team heads to Chapin on March 22 (after this issue’s press deadline) and Lower Richland on March 24.

brookland-cayce baseball, lexington county sports

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