Greenbrier players set for college
Four of the seven seniors who took the Greenbrier baseball team to the state semifinals last season will play college baseball next spring.
Greenbrier High School baseball star Brad Ramsbotham is surrounded by family members as he signs to play for USC-Aiken.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
One junior from the team has already signed to play college baseball in 2006.
Outfielder Brad Ramsbotham, now a senior, signed a letter of intent with the University of South Carolina Aiken on Tuesday at an afternoon news conference. Softball pitcher Kristan Glover signed with Tennessee Tech during the ceremony in the school's library.
"I'm real proud of Brad," coach Ed Williams said. "He has worked hard and has earned this."
Ramsbotham hit .432, second best on the team, with 29 RBI for a Wolfpack team that won 28 games and fell two wins shy of making their first state finals since 1999.
"Last season was real tough, the way it ended," Ramsbotham said. "But we will have to rebound this year. We lost a bunch of seniors and will be underrated. But we will be good; Greenbrier always is."
The right fielder will join a number of county players already in the Pacers' program, including former Greenbrier teammates Scott Wandless and Ben Tankersley.
"It is good that I will get to play with guys I know," Ramsbotham said. "But it really didn't have any impact of whether I went there or not."
Ramsbotham will now turn his complete attention to the baseball team after getting the commitment process out of the way.
"I thought I would wait until the spring to commit, but then I visited the school's campus last week," Ramsbotham said. "I just felt like I could grow and get better over there. Why not commit now?"
Ramsbotham said Michael Holder, the son of former Greenbrier coach Terry Holder and brother of current assistant Rodney, did a good job of selling the program.
"Coach Holder brought a lot of the things he did as an assistant at Vanderbilt to USC Aiken," said Ramsbotham, who attended team camps with Greenbrier at Vanderbilt.
Playing close enough to allow his parents to see him play was another consideration for Ramsbotham.