Being average in sports is just not good. Especially, when you are playing varsity baseball.

Participation medals just don’t go too far on the varsity level.

Last week, Easley’s baseball team hosted Greenville in a big region game. The Green Wave were 6-5 on the season and 2-2 in the region. They needed that big “statement win” and ace pitcher Walker Cox answered the call.

Cox responded with a dominant pitching performance on the mound for the victory. He had teammates like No. 8 hitter Levi Holcombe (a freshman) go 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs at the plate and No. 9 hitter Jackson Rampey (a senior) go 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs.

“Any time you go up 4-0 after the second inning it makes it a lot easier, and you are playing with a lead,” said Cox, The Easley Progress Athlete of the Week. “The offense gives you a lot of confidence. I didn’t have a lot of strikeouts tonight at all (3 total). Our defense was just working the entire night. It was one of our better defensive nights. We played a clean game every inning.”

Easley climbed to 7-5 on the season and 3-2 in the region.

“We needed Walker to be Walker,” said EHS coach Gill Payne. “He focused on it all week. He had a no-hitter through four-plus innings and a shutout through six innings. He needed that and we needed that. That’s Walker Cox right there.”

Added Coach Payne, about his team, “Our goal is to win a region championship. I told the guys before the game tonight … the season starts over. We are .500 on everything and let’s get to work. All the teams ahead of us are on our radar and we’ll be playing them. We just have to be ready.”

Cox nearly threw a complete game, but junior Zach Jochimsen came on in relief to get the final two outs and get the save.

Cox is still just a junior at EHS and he has a 3.67 E.R.A. against some top-notch opponents. He’s got a team-high 23 strikeouts in 21 innings of work, too.

At press time, Cox was the second-leading hitter on the team with a .333 batting average (13-for-39). He’s also scored 13 runs and shares the lead in RBIs with 8.

Hitting:

Easley: C. Irvin (1-4), J. Sonderfan (0-2), A. Beeco (2-3), A. Tolbert (1-2), W. Cox (1-3), B. Gambrell (0-0), C. Sears (1-4), L. Holcombe (2-2), J. Rampey (2-3).

2B: Rampey, Holcombe.

SB: Holcombe (2), Sutton.

Pitching:

Easley: Walker Cox (6.1 inn., 2h, 1r, 1er, 5bb, 3so, 88 pitches)

Zach Jochimsen (.2inn., 0h, 0r, 0er, 0bb, 0so, 5 pitches)