Not many players in high school baseball history have followed the path that Tim Steflik took to earning a college scholarship.
|
Evans High School's Tim Steflik signs a scholarship with USC Aiken as his family and coaches look on.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
|
The Evans senior has played in fewer than five varsity baseball games, but that didn't stop the University of South Carolina Aiken from offering the right-hander a scholarship. He is the third Knight to receive a scholarship this season.
Steflik choose the Pacers over Augusta State University and signed the letter of intent last Wednesday, despite missing nearly all of his junior and senior years because of an elbow injury.
Although Steflik has pitched in just three varsity games, USC Aiken coach Michael Holder - a former Evans catcher - said he was confident Steflik would fully recover from the Tommy John surgery that has held him out of all but one game this season.
"As I starting progressing in rehab, they started calling," Steflik said. "They said they wanted to take a chance on me. I'm definitely grateful for that. I'll admit I'm pretty surprised someone gave me the chance. You don't really hear about that kind of thing happening."
During the Baldwin game that Steflik pitched, it was reported that a scout clocked him at 94 mph, 3 mph higher than Steflik had ever topped out.
Steflik has served as a reliever this year but he said he has been cleared to start a game as early as next week, with a 90-pitch count in place. Each week the count rises by 15 pitches.
"We've always taken a cautious approach with Timmy," Evans coach Ricky Beale said. "But when he is ready to pitch we'll get him out there. He could be the key to our team doing some great things this year."
