Patrick Begins Third Season As Head Coach Of Carvers Bay Baseball
Patrick Begins Third Season As Head Coach Of Carvers Bay Baseball
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Hemingway—Shawn Patrick begins his third season as the head baseball coach at Carvers Bay, and when he took over the program two years ago, the program was in need of rebuilding from the ground-up.
“We worked hard on changing the culture of the baseball program because we had had a lot of turn-over in head coaches, over a five-year period, and one of my goals was to bring some stability to the program,” said Coach Patrick who played baseball at Williamsburg Academy where he graduated in 2002.
In year two, the program grew by leaps and bounds as the Bears finished at around 14-14 for the season, still comprised mainly of freshmen and sophomores.
“Just as we think we have things pointed in the right direction, the SCHSL has their two-year realignment, and I promise you, bar none, we have the toughest Class A baseball region in the state,” said Coach Patrick. “The six other teams in our new region are Lake View, Johnsonville, Latta, Green Sea -Floyds, Hannah-Pamplico, and Hemingway.”
The team is fortunate to return the 1-2 pitching rotation of juniors Clark Jones and Brantley Jones who are committed year- round players with a strong goal of playing at the next level beyond high school.
“Clark is our starting shortstop also and he batted .390 with 20 RBI’s last season with 15 stolen bases,” said Coach Patrick. “He is very dedicated to the sport of baseball and this will be his fourth year starting on the team. He makes very few errors and he has soft hands with a quick whip to first base.”
Junior Kendall Moore returns to first base where he batted around .300 with 12 RBI’s last season. The only senior on the team is second baseman Kim Ball Edwards. Edwards batted lead-off and he hit .300 with 12 RBI’s. Sophomore Bryant Garman will hold down third base and he had a .980 fielding percentage last year while batting around .300. Garman also had a good eye at the plate walking 19 times during the season with 10 stolen bases.
The catcher is four-year returning starter junior Brantley Jones. “Brantley has a 2.0 pop- time to second base and he protects the plate very well with few passed balls,” said Coach Patrick. “Brantley is a very smart player and he is fully aware of what is going on in the game at all times.”
B. Jones batted a solid .400 with 15 RBI’s as a sophomore. “Brantley is also our number two pitcher and while he might not throw as hard as his brother, he is a pure pitcher that throws a lot of strikes,” said Coach Patrick. “He had the best ERA on the team last year at a little over 1.00.”
Coach Patrick says that since Garman is a solid back-up catcher this season, he will not be afraid to use B. Jones more on the bump. “Sometimes you hate to put your starting catcher on the mound if you lose a lot of defenses behind the plate,” said Coach Patrick. “With Garman available to catch some it will give Brantley a little more mound time.”
During this interview Coach Patrick stated he had not made final cuts and some spots in the out-field were still wide-open. He does feel like junior Clarkson Thompson, and freshman Myles Matthews will see a lot of action in the outfield. Thompson will be starting for the first time. Matthews led the team in batting at .420 a year ago and he can also play some first base.
Moore will be the team’s number three “lefty” behind the Jone’s brothers.
Some of strong newcomers to the varsity include 8th graders Nolan Williams and Owen Lewis, two utility players along with freshman Trevion Parrot and junior Javion Palmer.
Coach Patrick said his strong goal for the team is to improve with every practice “and keep working our butts off.”
Carvers Bay will begin the 2025 season on February, 28th in the Larry Hardee-Duke Pendley Memorial 10-team Pre-season Tournament hosted by Loris High School.
Coach Patrick is assisted by Garrett Howard, Rick Smith, and Keith Coker
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