Panthers return to the diamond

By Roger Lee

Summerville – Pinewood Prep is working to continue the success it had on the baseball diamond last year.

The Panthers are out to an 8-4 start with a 2-1 mark in region games.

“It’s been a little bit of an up and down season,” Pinewood coach Jay Buddin said. “We’ve lost some games I thought we should have won and won some games that maybe we shouldn’t have. We are reasonably young.”

Pinewood beat some good teams early this season.

“We got beat by Cardinal Newman, who has a kid who throws really well and is going to Wofford,” Buddin said “We beat Ben Lippen and Hammond, which is always a state powerhouse. We beat First Baptist 17-2 and they turned around and beat us 1-0 the next night but we beat them 21-0 in the third game.”

The Panthers’ other losses both came to Trinity Collegiate, which only has one loss this season. Pinewood handed Woodland its first loss of the season March 27 by a 9-0 margin. The Panthers’ other wins came over Dorchester Academy, Laurence Manning and Orangeburg Prep.

Pinewood only lost four seniors from a team that set a new school record for wins and advanced to the semi-final round of the state playoffs last Spring. Three of those were pitchers.

Dalton Bisbano, a College of Charleston commit who garnered Region Player of the Year honors in 2023, is back. The senior southpaw pitcher and outfielder was 8-0 on the mound last season with a 2.85 ERA and 76 K’s.

Others also returned with varsity pitching experience. The Panthers will rely on as many as 12 pitchers this season.

Senior right hander Zack Tyler is back after going 4-1 on the hill with a save and 56 strikeouts in 42 innings last season. Senior righties James Peterson, an Alabama State commit, and Zach Marasco have also returned.

Junior southpaw Christopher Kabine and sophomores Will Watson, Max Poulakis and Jayden Alexander are challenging for meaningful innings on the bump as well. Buddin says freshman Camden Abernathy has grown considerably and will develop into a good arm.

Abernathy and Poulakis are the only new faces in the varsity dugout. Senior Corley Watson took his junior year off for football recruiting but has now returned to challenge for playing time in the outfield as well as at first base.

Marasco, junior Drew Hartig and sophomore Carson Good are vying for time at catcher.

Junior Finley Taylor and sophomore Grady Fuller returned after making every start at shortstop and second base last year. However, Fuller suffered one of the key injuries the team is dealing with and may miss the rest of the season.

“We still have three starters out but we are starting to get healthy,” Buddin said. “Hopefully we can get Dalton back throwing. He has been down a couple of weeks. Will Watson and Chris Kabine are injured be we hope to get them back soon.”

Poulakis and Good are also spending time in the hot corner while Peterson, Tyler and senior Tyler Backman combine with Corley Watson to handle first-base duties.

Corley Watson, Bisbano and Marasco are all veteran outfielders and Peterson’s speed makes him a good option in the grass.



Through the first 10 games of the season, Peterson is leading the team at the plate with a .480 average and Poulakis has a .444 average. Bisbano, who hit .448 last season, carried a .313 average through those games while Hartig hit .300, Marasco hit .294 and Good hit .242.

Will Watson, who had a .473 batting average last season, is expected to contribute more once healed.

Pinewood opens the HIT at 5 p.m. April 1 when it plays St. Pius X Catholic School from Atlanta at Summerville High. The winner of the Summerville-Great Bridge, Va. first-round game will then play Pinewood April 2 at Summerville. The Panthers will then turn their focus to closing out their region schedule with a pair of three-game series against Northwood Academy and Porter-Gaud.