Former State Games Baseball Participant
June 12th, 2007 Posted in State Games of NC - 2007With the upcoming State Games Baseball event, I would like to give you some insight on what it is like to be a former participant. First, you may be asking what is the State Games Baseball event? The event is broken up into two parts. First, you have a best of three series of Seniors, which is between an East team and a West team. It is an all star game for seniors and this is the event that I participated in. Then there is a tournament of eight underclassmen teams that are broken into different regions geographically. The selection process for the events is you have to be nominated to try out. After you are nominated then you have to try out and then you have to show the coaches enough to be selected to the team. What is it like to play in the State Games? For me it was an honor to be selected and to have the chance to play with and against some of the best seniors in the state.
In the summer of 2001, I played for the west team in the senior State Games. I was apart of a team that was correlated of future division one players along with those that might not have played at the college level. On paper our team, the East team had more big name future college players. Our games took place in Raleigh on NC State’s field. The first game our team was facing Carter Harrell who was the Gatorade Player of the Year from North Carolina and committed to play at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was a good pitching match up as our pitcher was pitching just as good. Late in the game, I came in to pitch and the score was tied and I gave up the lead and we ended up losing the game. I was the losing pitcher in the first game. The second game, I got to start at first base and I got two hits and two RBI’s to help my team win. The final and deciding game, our coach gave me the start again at first base and I got two more hits and drove in two more runs to help our team win the series. It was an exciting time for me because it allowed me coming from a 1A high school and playing with the underdog team to go out there and show that I could play with the best players from 2A, 3A, and 4A high schools.
The State Games is a good opportunity for all high school baseball players to get the exposure that you need when it comes to college recruiters. The underclassmen games is essential for guys that want to get seen by college coaches and get their name out there. To all those that are playing in the State Games, I hope you have an enjoyable time as did I. To potential future State Games participants, I recommend playing in this as an underclassman and as a senior because it is a great event to be apart of and it can only help you out in your goal of playing at the next level.
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