Jun. 5—One of the area’s favorite rites of summer is returning this week after a year off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
American Legion baseball is back, and Aiken Post 26 is fielding three teams under manager David Savage for a regular season that begins Monday.
The 19-and-under seniors and 17-and-under juniors are back for another summer, and now there’s a 15-and-under squad that’s been added to the mix.
That means a busy summer of baseball in the area as the locals take on some high-level competition throughout the state.
“It gives the kids an opportunity to play American Legion,” said Savage. “… They get to play other communities. They get to go to North Augusta, Strom Thurmond, Camden, Newberry. We go all over the place playing. It’s always fun to represent Aiken playing these other communities.”
The teams have a new home for the summer as Aiken High undergoes field maintenance. Savage said Bob Polewski and Michael Baker stepped up to the plate and made available South Aiken’s Lumber Yard for the senior and junior teams, and Jessica Campbell and Jeff Metz “bent over backwards” to offer a field at Citizens Park for the 15-and-unders.
Savage also needed to find some coaches, so he reached out to a player he used to coach when he was a pre-teen — former South Aiken great Andrew Faulker, who played for the Texas Rangers in 2015-16. He agreed, and he requested his former high school coach Polewski as his assistant.
“He fine-tunes them,” Savage explained. “These kids already can play. They know the game, but he teaches them the finer points of what to expect at the next level.
“I actually had two pitchers that were not going to play this summer, but when they heard Andrew was coaching they came up and signed up. They wanted Andrew to work with them, because you know he’s a Major League Baseball pitcher so of course they wanted that. Having Coach Polewski being a legend at South Aiken on that older team, that drew kids as well.”
T-Breds head coach Baker will coach the juniors on his home field, with Tim Roberts as his assistant.
The new 15-and-under team is already a hit, with so many kids showing up for the tryout that they couldn’t keep them all for the 18-player roster. Savage attributed a lot of that to them wanting to play for head coach Richard Abney. He’ll be assisted by Clay Whitt, Zach Holley and Kyle Blum as they groom what Savage hopes will be a group that plays Legion ball all the way through to the senior roster.
“What we’re trying to do is get these kids involved in Legion at an early age so they continue to play as they get older,” he said. “Get them hooked early so they see the value in playing other communities and other competition. They’re going to find out real quick when they go to these other cities that the competition gets pretty stiff, especially the older you get.”
The teams wrapped up their preseason preparations with games this weekend, and the five-week season begins in earnest this week. All three teams begin regular season play Tuesday. The playoffs are scheduled to begin in mid-July.
Schedules/Rosters
Post 26 Seniors
all home games scheduled for 7 p.m. at South Aiken
June 8 — at Lexington
June 9 — vs. Lexington
June 14 — at West Columbia
June 16 — vs. West Columbia
June 18 — vs. Evans
June 22 — at Chapin Newberry
June 23 — vs. Williamson, at SRP Park
June 25 — at Chapin Newberry
June 28 — at Evans
June 29 — vs. Camden
July 1 — at Camden
July 5 — vs. Richland
July 7 — at Richland
Player Name, School
Emmett Adams, Fox Creek
Caleb Baynham, Fox Creek
Peyton Boozer, South Aiken
Rushton Bowles, USC Salkehatchie (Aiken)
Charles Herring, USC Lancaster (Aiken)
Christopher Holley, Claflin (Silver Bluff)
Kenny Miller, Fox Creek
Austin Paradise, Columbia International (Midland Valley)
Ethan Power, Midland Valley
Joshua Quill, South Aiken
Jalen Raysor, South Aiken
Jacob Rushton, Strom Thurmond
Luke Stringfield, Aiken
Levi Taylor, Strom Thurmond
Hunter Thomas, Silver Bluff
Post 26 Juniors
all home games are scheduled for 7 p.m. at South Aiken
June 8 — at Edgefield
June 9 — vs. Gray
June 15 — vs. Northside
June 17 — at North Augusta
June 21 — vs. Irmo
June 22 — vs. North Augusta
June 24 — vs. Evans, at SRP Park
June 29 — vs. North Augusta
July 1 — at Edgefield
July 5 — at Richland
July 6 — vs. Edgefield
July 8 — at Lexington
Player Name, School
Justin Acord, Midland Valley
Christopher Atkinson, South Aiken
Jayden Baker, Midland Valley
Jacob Butler, South Aiken
Cameron Davis, Aiken
Jameson Finney, South Aiken
Jordan Gibson, Ridge Spring-Monetta
Jackson Hammett, South Aiken
Cody Hutto, Midland Valley
Preston McNair, Midland Valley
Caleb Miller, South Aiken
Dylan Miller, Fox Creek
Austin Verant, Midland Valley
Post 26 Junior 15u
all home games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Citizens Park
June 2 — at Batesburg-Leesville
June 3 — vs. North Augusta
June 8 — at North Augusta
June 10 — vs. North Augusta
June 15 — vs. Ninety Six
June 17 — at Ninety Six
June 18 — at Lexington
June 21 — vs. Gray
June 23 — vs. Richland
June 25 — vs. Lexington
June 28 — at Gray
June 29 — at Greenwood
July 1 — vs. Greenwood
July 6 — at Emerald
July 8 — vs. Emerald
Player Name, School
Curtis B. Anderson, P-27
Thomas Baker, South Aiken
Ethan Bentley, South Aiken
Tucker Bryan, South Aiken
Jaxon Flowers, Aiken
Will Haltiwanger, South Aiken
William Hicks, Midland Valley
Chris Kinard, South Aiken
Landen Kirkbride, Horse Creek Academy
Andruw Kirkland, South Aiken
Stephen Platte, Horse Creek Academy
Audyn Randall, Midland Valley
Duncan Staniszewski, Aiken
Carver Vaughn, Aiken
Chance Weathersbee, Midland Valley
Jackson Wright, Midland Valley
Cross Yarborough, Aiken
Watson Youmans, South Aiken