Supporting Our Troops, Baseball Style

Baseball 2009, Game 72: Thomasville Hi-Toms 2, Columbia Blowfish 1

Thomasville Sloppiness: 10
Columbia Sloppiness: 9
Most batters in one inning: 6
Hitter of the Game: Matt Williams, Columbia (rating: 17)
Pitcher of the Game: Asher Wojciechowski, Thomasville (rating: 118)
Time of Game: 2:53
Mid-game temperature: 76 degrees
Attendance: 6,091 (Level II sporting event)

"Support our Troops" is perhaps one of the most common phrases in American society. The phrase has taken off since 9/11 and the wars that have come since then. Americans feel the need to support these service members, as they would perhaps feel insecure without them. And these men and women deserve to be saluted, as they signed up to protect America. They are often asked to take many other risks that don't always involve defending our freedom but rather (attempting) to establish it overseas.

Considering how much the troops have to suffer for the sake of the nation, entertaining them is a national priority. The USO has brought many acts to soldiers overseas, such as Stephen Colbert hosting his show from Baghdad this upcoming week. But many soldiers are also training for battle here in the U.S., in places such as Columbia's Fort Jackson. My grandfather trained at Fort Jackson before fighting the Nazis in the Battle of the Bulge, and Fort Jackson is still a major army base today. The Blowfish every year host a group of Fort Jackson soldiers for a night of baseball and fireworks. Last year the event was on Flag Day, this year was tonight on the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

The Fort Jackson soldiers took up all the bleacher seating behind home plate as well as all of Capital City Stadium's seats down the 3b/LF line. It is nice to see the soldiers come and enjoy themselves at a ball game like the rest of us. But they were still highly controlled by their officers and drill sergeants tonight, and much of their entertainment was orchestrated. The soldiers were ordered to their seats at certain times such as 30 minutes prior to first pitch. I overheard one soldier complaining about his drill sergeant. One that must be remembered as these soldiers are said to be fighting for our freedom is that they do not have the same freedoms we do. The military has to keep strict discipline and order to work, and every part of a soldier's life is controlled by the military. The entire entrance to the stadium was packed with buses dropping off infantries and picking them back up after the game. A pregame singer performed for the soldiers, leading the troops in various military songs.

At times it seems that the whole thing is also a show for the civilian audience. I have never had a strong interest in military culture, but many people especially here in South Carolina are enthralled with the various chants and military spirit. A lot of military life is meant to appeal to macho male culture, which I have never enjoyed that much. But the most important thing was that the soldiers enjoyed themselves it seems, even though they probably don't have much interest in the Blowfish or college summer league baseball. Hopefully these soldiers will continue to stay safe while our politicians quibble about what is best for them.

Three of the Hi-Toms' starters were from a military college in the Citadel. The Citadel has a longstanding tradition of military discipline. But the Citadel is by no means directly connected with the actual U.S. military itself, as Citadel cadets historically rebelled against the U.S. by firing the first shots of the Civil War on Fort Sumter in 1861. Many Citadel cadets go on to military officer careers, but many others go to become established South Carolinians elsewhere in life.

One of these Citadel players is Richard Jones, a first team all-conference catcher from my hometown of Sumter. And tonight his opposing pitcher was also from Sumter in Tyler Christman, who is currently at the 2-year USC Sumter where my mom teaches psychology. Christman and Jones played together for the American Legion P-15's, but the two did not go the same high school. Christman pitched for the public school Sumter (where much of his career was injury plagued) while Jones played for the private Wilson Hall. Given my support for public schools over private schools and Christman's USC Sumter connection, it was easy to root for him over Jones.

Christman has perhaps been the most consistently successful pitcher that I have seen watching Small Time Sports. He consistently has turned in some dominating performances against local Legion and JUCO teams and has made himself a big prospect to move onto a good 4-year school and maybe even pitch professionally someday. But normally Christman pitches in front of 500 fans in Legion games 200 fans in JUCO games. With the Fort Jackson crowd and familes enjoying a beautiful Saturday night packing the 6,000 seat Capital City Stadium and Division I players on the opposing team, Tyler Christman was at a level he hadn't been to yet.

Christman's first opponent in the CPL was Taylor Dugas of Alabama, who grounded out to third. Wes Hobson reached on an error and Stewart Ijames batted him over. But when Chris McGuinness grounded out to first, Christman had two outs and two runners in scoring position with his ex-teammate Jones at the plate. On a 2-2 pitch, Christman placed the ball over the outside part of the plate to send Jones scurrying for his catcher gear.

Christman pitched an outstanding first game in the CPL. He struck out Jones all three times he faced him as part of 6 K's on the nights. In 6 innings, Christman only allowed two hits. But Christman's two walks would come around to score from sloppy Blowfish defense and when Christman departed his team was down 2-0 through 6. The Blowfish's only hit off of the Citadel's Asher Wojciechowski came on a bunt single by Winthrop's Tyler McBride in the 5th. The bullpens would continue to dominate, although the Blowfish got an unearned run in the 7th off of Jordan Propst. Liberty's Matt Williams who reached on a walk and stayed alive on the basepaths due to an error on a potential double play would steal third and score on Jones' subsequent throwing error. Williams, who went 0 for 2 with two walks, a stolen base, and a run, would get Hitter of the Game without a hit. Williams' rating of 17 is tied for the 4th lowest in the 267 baseball games I have been to over the past two years that was good enough for Hitter of the Game honors.

It just wasn't a night for hitting. That is how it goes in the CPL with players using wood bats for often the first time. The teams combined for only four hits, three of which were infield singles. Only Ijames' hit in the first off of Christman got through to the outfield. None of three runs were produced by hits. All three runs were considered unearned by the official scorer, although the official scorer gave catcher Trent Still a passed ball that could have been considered a Christman wild pitch that led to the first run. Tyler Christman, as good as he was, was the loser tonight. Every pitcher tonight had a good game. The batters simply could not take advantage of opposing sloppiness, and that isn't world class baseball there. But usually it takes a few weeks for the CPL to get going and produce high level Small Time Sports baseball.

One thing that must also be noted among the Coastal Plain League is botched scorekeeping. While Jones' error allowed Williams to score, Williams was never officially credited with stealing 3rd. Ashton Hughes was given an RBI for a run scoring while he reached on a two-out error, which is also incorrect. Finally, the time of game was off. 2:53 is only correct with the fireworks show included as part of the game, otherwise it was closer to 30 minutes less than that. 6,069 also seems to be a high attendance as that indicates a capacity crowd even though there were a few seats to be had down the RF line. But if minor league teams like the Charlotte Knights can inflate their numbers, the Blowfish can as well as tonight's crowd was much bigger than last night's in Fort Mill. But while that is minor, better scorekeeping is needed as the players need accurate stats to present to their coaches and scouts to prove themselves.

Good luck to the troops in staying out of harm's way, and good luck also to players like Christman and Jones who are hoping for their name to be called in this week's MLB draft.