The South Carolina D1 team takes a quick picture before taking the field Saturday night and defeating Central 6-4 in their first game of the Senior League World Series.
Jeff Holt | The Easley Progress
EASLEY — About 15 minutes before the game started, South Carolina D1 coach George Turmon commented on starting pitcher Walker Cox from Easley.
“He’s the guy I call ‘The Big Unit,’” said Coach Turmon. “He throws all the pitches. He can throw the off-speed. Plus, he’s a talented athlete. He probably should be batting on any other team – he’s that talented of a kid. Here’s the good thing about it. He doesn’t change. That’s what you look for in a pitcher and I think that I’ve got the right guy.”
He sure did.
Cox is only around 6-foot-6 (not 6-10 like the famous Randy Johnson who has that nickname) and Cox did not play in the majors for 22 seasons like Johnson did. Johnson played in the bigs from 1988-2009 – mainly for the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks.
However, the junior-to-be at Easley High School did throw five strong innings on Saturday night to lead SC D1 to a 6-4 win over Central in the opening game of the Senior League World Series. It also marked the first game that was played on the new name of the Gregg Powell Field.
Cox turned in an 85-pitch performance of: 3 runs, 5 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.
“This is like nothing I’ve ever done before,” said Cox, right after the victory. “It was fantastic. We knew the defense was going to get it done and eventually we would find our swing and put up some runs. We never doubted ourselves and that’s what matters. It was a great team win.”
Clinton’s Jayden Glenn came on in relief to pitch the final two innings to seal the victory for SC D1. Glenn had no walks, 2 strikeouts and gave up just 1 hit.
Glenn, though, went on to comment on Walker Cox and his performance.
“He went up there and showed the team he could do it,” Glenn said. “We were behind him. We knew he was pitching (the opener) the whole time when we got this team started. We trusted him, made plays behind him, hit the ball later in the game for him and got it done tonight.”
Defensively, Jack Jarisch (from Powdersville) also made some great plays in right field and the SC team turned in three double plays on the night.
Added Glenn, “Before we came into this tournament, all the coaches talked about was defense. He don’t care about the number of strikeouts. All he cares about is getting outs, and that’s what we did tonight. We didn’t have a lot of defense and our defense is clutch.”
SC D1 team members include: Greyson Austin (MIF, Wren), Braydon Burke (RHP,MIF, Laurens Academy), Tristan Buzbee (C/OF, Laurens), Graham Campbell (LHP/OF, West Oak), Walker Cox (RHP/1B, Easley), Camden Finley (OF/MIF/RHP, Clinton), Banks Gambrell (MIF, Easley), Jaydon Glenn (3B/MIF/RHP, Clinton), Jack Jarisch (RF/RHP, Powdersville),Tobie Lowe (C/RHP/1B, Walhalla), Braydon Patterson (2B/OF, Laurens), Collin Phillips (1B/RHP, Walhalla), Bradley Runion (MIF, Pendleton), Cooper Sears (C/3B,Easley), Ty Simpson (3B, Daniel) and Luke Young (C/1B, Clinton).
SC D1
Lineup AB, R, H, RBI
Young C 4 1 2 0
Austin SS 1 1 0 1
Finley CF 4 1 2 0
Simpson 2b, 3B 3 0 0 1
Gambrell 2B
Glenn 3B, P 4 0 0 0
Phillips 1B 2 0 1 0
Patterson 1B 1 1 0 0
Lowe DH 3 0 1 0
Jarisch RF 2 1 0 0
Buzbee LF 3 1 2 1
2B: Phillips.
SF: Austin
Pitches-Strikes: Cox 85-46, Glenn 26-18
Batters Faced: Cox 22, Glenn 8.
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.