USC alumni, ’Wolves set for exhibition

FLORENCE — Any baseball player who plays the game for a long time will tell you the toughest part of a career is taking off their uniform for the last time.

Today at 6 p.m. at Legion Field, a group of former USC Gamecocks will be in uniform again for an alumni exhibition against the Florence RedWolves.

“These guys love to play,” said Tripp Kelly, a West Florence grad who played at USC from 1998-2001. “If you call them and say, ‘Hey, let’s go play somebody,’ they’ll line up and play.

“Anything to put that Garnet jersey on again.”

The alumni have played a yearly exhibition with the Columbia Blowfish since 2007 and are 1-2, including a 5-0 loss to the Blowfish in Columbia on Friday night. This is the first year they’ll play the RedWolves.

In Friday night’s loss, the alumni had six hits but failed to get a runner past second.

“I can tell you right now, these guys take it pretty serious,” Kelly said. “Last night, we were like, ‘We got to play better than that.’ We want to win.

“There were 4,000 people at that game. It was fun. The nerves before the game came right back. Everything came back like we were playing any other game as usual.”

The exhibition in Florence has come about through Kelly’s relationship with RedWolves’ owner Kevin Barth.

“You can’t imagine how excited we are to play this game,” Barth said. “It’s fun to play (Coastal Plain League) games, but to play the Gamecocks who have put players on our team and in this league is just awesome.”

Barth can often be heard jeering umpires and opposing players from his seat along the first-base line, and today probably won’t be any different.

“We look forward to pounding them,” Barth said with a chuckle. “Tripp’s been talking trash all year long.”

Steven Bondurant (USC 2000-03), Jamie Poston (USC 1997-200) and Blake Taylor (USC 2001-02) are expected to pitch for the alumni.

Bondurant pitched in the Oakland A’s organization from 2003-07, reaching Triple-A. Taylor pitched a year of rookie ball for the Cleveland Indians in 2002.

“We’ll have a good time,” Kelly said. “I just hope a bunch of people come out to watch.”

USC Alumni roster
Pitchers
Steven Bondurant (2000-03)*, Matt Campbell (2002-04)*, Curtis Johnson (2007-09), David Marchbanks (2001-03)*, Jamie Poston (1997-2000), Brett Price (1999-2001)*, Aaron Rawl (2002-05)*, Tyler Speer (1997), Chris Spigner (1999-2002)*, Blake Taylor (2001-02)*

Catchers
Garris Gonce (2001-02)*

Infielders
Trey Dyson (1999-02)*, Andrew Crisp (2005-09), Bryon Jeffcoat (1998-2001)*, Tripp Kelly (1998-2001)*, Bryan Triplett (2003-04)*

Outfielders
Adam Crisp (2007-08), Davy Gregg (2003-05)*, Matt Riddle (2000-03)*, Tim Seaton (2002-03), Derick Urquhart (1995-98)*
* — Also played professionally

Best in the land
The Forest City Owls aren’t only the top team in the Coastal Plain League, but — according to Perfect Game Crosschecker — they’re the top collegiate summer league team in the nation.

The Owls, who play in the multi-million dollar McNair Field, are ranked No. 1 in the PGC’s weekly Top 25 poll.

The Owls entered Saturday night 27-4 overall. They won their second straight CPL first half West Division championship with a 24-3 record, the best start in league history.

Coming into the second half of the season, Forest City led the CPL in eight pitching and seven offensive categories.

Forest City is in its second year in the CPL after inheriting the Spartanburg Stingers franchise in 2008. The Owls were 28-26 overall last summer.

Statistically speaking
Outer Banks’ Dylan Petrich (.412) and Gastonia’s Matthew Hamlet (.400) entered Saturday night as the only two players in the CPL batting .400 or better. … Gastonia’s Randolph Oduber entered
Saturday with a league-best eight home runs. Thomasville’s Stewart Ijames was second with seven followed by Thomasville’s Richard Jones and Edenton’s Jake Magner with six each. … Forest City’s
Wade Moore entered Saturday with a league-best 22 stolen bases in 25 attempts. … Florence’s John Taylor is second in the league with a 1.08 ERA. He’s second in the league in innings pitched (41 2/3) and fourth in the league in opposing batting average (.176).