Baseball standouts moving on to college diamond

Robert Davis picked up where he left off last season for USC-Aiken.

The former Greenbrier standout, who is coming off an All-Conference season as a junior, had a big opening weekend for the Pacers. Davis hit .438 (7-of-16) with two doubles and four RBI as USC-Aiken split four games.

His former Greenbrier teammate, Nick Wandless, also was solid for the Pacers. Wandless made two appearances striking out four, walking none and earning a save. Wandless should be one of the premier relief pitchers in all of Division II baseball this season.

Scott Wandless (Greenbrier) and Ken Raborn (Evans) also saw action for the Pacers. The younger Wandless got some bad breaks in his only inning of work as he yielded five unearned runs while Raborn was 1-for-5 at the plate with a three-run triple.

At Augusta State the news was not as good. The Jags dropped two of three to Carson Newman over the weekend. Former Greenbrier catcher Jeremy Armstrong was solid at the plate for the Jags. He went 3-for-9 (.333) with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI.

While Armstrong hit the ball well, the other Columbia County kids had a tough weekend. Senior Justin Walker (Evans) started game three of the series, but managed to go only two innings, giving up six hits and six earned runs.

Preston Crews (senior, Lakeside) and Ben Duke (freshman, Greenbrier) both saw time on the mound. Both worked an inning and gave up one run each. Both struggled with control as they combined for five walks. Crews also went 1-for-6 at the plate with an RBI.

A word on the Super Bowl

As many of you know, I'm on cloud nine following the Steelers win in Super Bowl XL. The coolest thing was watching my son run around wearing his Ben Roethlisberger jersey and throwing his mini football. He is only 17 months old, so he dozed off long before the Steelers hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, and he probably will not remember the part of the game he did see.

But I enjoyed sharing the game with him. I hope it won't take 26 years for us to share another Steeler championship.