Lions slugger will get chance to shine in East Coast showcase

Honors continue to pour in for area baseball players.

Augusta Christian slugger Josh Whitaker, despite missing three weeks this season because of injury, put up some impressive numbers this spring for the Lions. The 6-1, 210-pound junior hit .507 with 10 homers and 44 RBI in less than 80 at bats. He also helped lead the Lions to their second consecutive South Carolina Independent Schools Association state baseball title.

In addition to being named First Team All-County, First Team All-Area and the SCISA State Player of the Year, Whitaker has earned another huge honor. After a tryout in Tallahassee, Fla., he was selected to participate in the prestigious East Coast Baseball Showcase next month in Wilmington, N.C. This event has featured some of the premier baseball prospects each year since the inaugural event in 1998. This will be a great opportunity for Whitaker to show his abilities to a large number of college and pro scouts from all over the country.

Whitaker's big news, along with the fact that Greenbrier standouts Brandon Cumpton and Jeff Rowland were chosen to play for Team Georgia, is more proof (as if we needed it) that Columbia County baseball ranks up there with any county in the Southeast.

One final Greenbrier update

OK, I admit that Greenbrier has gotten plenty of publicity throughout the 2006 baseball season (well deserved publicity), but I have one final update. Finally, it appears the folks at Baseball America got their heads out of the sand.

The country's foremost experts when it comes to amateur baseball gave the Wolfpack the recognition they deserved in the latest Baseball America High School Baseball Top 50 Poll. It took Greenbrier all season to crack their Top 50, despite being ranked in the top 20 in two other national polls. Well, this week the Pack got their due.

Greenbrier vaulted from No. 44 all the way up to No. 12 in Baseball America's latest poll.

No. 12 in Baseball America, No. 8 in CNNSI.com and in the top 20 in USA Today. I'd say they had a pretty good year.