Post 1 has high hopes for historic 75th season

FLORENCE — Throughout the upcoming season, the Florence Post 1 American Legion baseball team will be commemorating its 75-year history.

And coach Derick Urquhart and his players already expect this year will be one of the more memorable ones.

Post 1 hasn’t won a state title since 1942, but unlike previous seasons, they’ll have the home-field advantage this year. The state tournament comes to Florence beginning July 30 at American Legion Field for the first time in Post 1’s history.

“We’re very excited to have the tournament come to Florence,” Urquhart said. “As one of the longest-tenured teams in the state, I know the state committee had wanted Florence to host for a while and this was the perfect year to do it.

“With seven teams from across the state coming in, it should provide a great a baseball atmosphere for the fans in Florence and also provide some revenue for the community as well.”

As tournament host, Florence also gets an automatic spot among the eight-team field. But Post 1 is hoping to earn their spot along the way.

“We hope to get fans to come out and see us before the tournament, and the best way to do that is to put a good product on the field,” Urquhart said.

And on paper, Post 1 appears poised to do just that.

Of the 19 players on the roster, 14 are either playing college ball or have signed to play college ball. Many of them were all-region, and Post 1 even boasts the top four pitchers from Hartsville’s Class 4A state championship team of 2007.

“We always go into the season thinking we have enough pitching, but it never quite works out that way,” Urquhart said. “We’re already dealing with injuries. Charlie Abbott is out for the season with rotator cuff surgery and Spencer Matthews has a broken hand. And Daniel Baxley is still recovering from Tommy John surgery.

“But we have a lot of depth on this squad, and we have some pitchers who can step in and fill roles.”

Post 1 returns team leaders Robert Skinner (.430 avg., 6 HR, 24 RBI, 39 R) and John Taylor (7-6, 46 K, .325 avg., 5 HR, 27 RBI, 23 R), along with former Hartsville aces Patrick Mincey and Jordan Lyles.

“As long as we stay healthy, we should have a very good team this year,” Taylor said. “A lot of these guys have played together for a while, and the Junior Legion team won state last years, so those guys should help out a lot as well.”

Florence does lose significant offensive production with the departures of four-year starter Trey Lynch (.444 avg., 3 HR, 25 RBI, 30 R, 1-0, 3.76 ERA, 30 K) and catcher Austin Smetana (.367 avg., 6 HR, 26 RBI, 22 R). L.A. Owens (4-3, 3.21 ERA, 44 K) was the staff ace last year as well.

“We lost a lot of power from last year,” Urquhart said. “We don’t really have a true leadoff guy and a true cleanup hitter yet. We’ll probably bunt and steal and do more things to move guys over that maybe we did last year. But it depends on who we have step up.”

Among the newcomers who could have a huge impact is Lamar shortstop Tyler Boyd, who batter better than .500 for the Silver Foxes this season and will play third base and pitch for Post 1.

“You always try to get a little better, no matter the team or the league,” Boyd said. “There’s obviously a lot of talent on this team and on the others we’ll be facing as well.”

“As coaches, it will be our job to make sure we put the best nine players out there each game,” Urquhart said. “That might mean we’ll have a different lineup each game, but that’s how we plan to do things.”

Having an automatic bid to the postseason might be an easy excuse for why a team might coast through the regular season. Boyd doesn’t believe that will be the case, though.

“I know a lot of these guys are competitive,” Boyd said. “And being from Lamar, losing’s about the worst thing out there.”

Florence begins its season today in their annual Post 1 Invitational Tournament. The eight-team field will feature games at Conway, South Florence and West Florence.

Post 1 will host Goose Creek at 7:30 tonight at South Florence. Their first regular season game will be May 30 against Lake City at Legion Field.
Notes

A brand new Legion team will join League III this season. Coach Preston McDonald will head the Bishopville Post 29 squad in its inaugural season.

Post 29 will feature players from Bishopville, Hartsville, McBee as well as some parts of Lamar and Darlington.

“It’s been a tough process to raise enough money to fund both our senior and junior teams,” McDonald said. “On top of that, we had no returning players, so we had to go heavily recruit our area for available players. Hopefully, we can have some success this year and build on it next year.”

Staying in line with the Major League Baseball rule changes, all baseline coaches will be required to wear helmets when coaching either first of third base.
“We know the rule is in there for safety reasons,” Urquhart said. “But these are high school kids for the most part, and they don’t have near the bat speed as professional players. I can’t say I necessarily agree with it, but it’s something we’ll all have to get use to.”