Lexington Baseball Wins AAAA State Championship

Record: 28-5 (14-0 Home, 14-5 Away)
Region 5-AAAA: 10-0 (5-0 Home, 5-0 Away)
South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association (SCBCA Poll): No. 1
National Rankings: 7th Perfect Game, 15th Baseball America, 20th Collegiate Baseball

Last week: 2-1 (1-0 Home, 1-1 Away)
Mon., May 13: at Lexington 5, Blythewood 2
Wed., May 15: at Blythewood 7, Lexington 2
Fri., May 17: Lexington 4, Blythewood 0 (Carolina Stadium)

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Quick Hits  

Capacity Crowds -- A crowd of 6,240 attended Lexington's 4-0 win over Blythewood at the University of South Carolina's Carolina Stadium on Friday ... the three-game state championship series, featuring schools from the Columbia, S.C. area, drew nearly 9,000 fans ...

Home-Sweet-Home -- the Wildcats finished undefeated at home for the second consecutive season ... Lexington is 24-0 at Wildcats Field during coach Brian Hucks' two-year tenure ... Lexington posted a 10-0 home mark in 2011 and finished 14-0 this spring ...

Battling Buster ... Jordan Buster went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA over three short appearances in post-season play allowing a hit and a walk with five strikeouts over five innings ... picked up wins in Lexington's two extra inning victories (Lugoff-Elgin and South Aiken) ... opponents hit just .077 ... hit .333 (6-18) and scored four runs while starting all nine playoff games at third base ...

Brownie -- Junior CF Ryan Brown could be the top outfielder in the state and made Lexington's most significant improvement from last spring ... Brown finished 2013 with a .463 batting, scored a team-high 41 runs, was third on the team with 19 RBI and led Lexington swiping 17 bases in 18 attempts ... as a sophomore, Brown played in 24 games and managed just a .196 average (9-46) with 10 RBI and six stolen bases ...

Running Wild -- Lexington finished with 70 stolen bases in 89 attempts ... opponents were limited to just 22 steals in 39 attempts .. Brown led Lexington going 17-for-18 ... Cody Smith (8-8), David Barboza (8-8) and Paquette (8-13) finished tied for second ... Cameron Matthews was 7-for-11, Brice Kirven 6-for-6, Dalton Addy 6-for-9, Cole McMillan 5-for-6 and Jordan Buster was 3-for-4 ...

Deja Vu -- Lexington's Banks Faulkner was a member of Lexington's last two state championship teams ... he pitched for the Wildcats in 1999 when they beat James Island in three games ... he's served as associate head coach/pitching coach for Lexington the last two seasons ... during his tenure, Lexington pitchers are 55-9 with a 1.67 ERA ... recorded 451 strikeouts in 435 1/3 innings ... tossed 14 complete games and 15 shutouts ... opponents have hit just .216 (352-1629)

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Noting Lexington's 10 Seniors  

Battling Barboza -- David Barboza is one of the top defensive first baseman in the state ... started all 33 games ... hit .364 (12-33) in Region games and had a .405 on base percentage ... hit .333 vs. lefties ... .309 with runners on base ... .400 with the bases loaded ... .308 with runners in scoring position ... overall, Barboza had five doubles and drove in 17 runs ...  

Camper -- Brandon Camp hit .328 this spring and delivered the game-winning hit in the Lower State title game ... on May 10, Camp lined a two-out double to left that scored Nick Ciuffo and gave Lexington a 2-1 win over South Aiken and the lower state crown ... Camp added a crucial RBI double in Lexington's 4-0 championship game victory over Blythewood on Friday ...

Baseball 101 -- Catcher Nick Ciuffo finished his prep career with a 101-26 career mark ... Ciuffo played his first two seasons at Wando High School (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) and helped the Warriors to a pair of district championships and a 46-17 record (28-4 in 2009, 18-13 in 2010)... over his final two seasons, Lexington went 55-9 (27-4 in 2012, 28-5 in 2013) ... Ciuffo's teams combined for four district championships, three region championships, one Lower State crown and the 2013 AAAA state title ... Ciuffo finished 2013 leading Lexington with a .468 average, five homers and 33 RBI ... he did not have a passed ball and committed just two errors in 240 total chances ...

Getting it done Dalton -- Senior shortstop Dalton Addy finished third on the club with a .391 batting average ... Addy had a team-leading 15 sacrifices and finished second with 28 runs scored ... he combined to hit .385 over his final two seasons (57-148) ... hit .375 (21-56) in 23 games in 2012 ...

Very good Godleski -- RHP Matt Godleski was 3-1 with a 2.05 ERA over 10 appearances ... earned the win with 10 strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings in a 4-1 victory over Wando on March 9 at the I.P. Classic ... picked up the win in Lexington's 2-1 victory over nationally 2nd-ranked Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) on March 29 at USA Baseball's NHSI in Cary, N.C. ... worked 5 2/3 innings allowing an unearned run on a hit with eight strikeouts ...

From stopper to starter ... Elliot Lance turned starting pitcher after 12 appearances as the team's closer during the regular season ... Lance went 2-0 with four saves and a 1.27 ERA out of the pen ... went 2-1 with a 0.86 ERA and a pair of complete-game shutouts in four post-season starts ... blanked Ashley Ridge 2-0 on April 26 and beat Beaufort 8-0 on May 4 ... allowed just three earned runs and 18 hits (.196 opponent's batting average) over 24 1/3 innings in the playoffs ...

Consistent Cole -- Right-fielder Cole McMillan hit .419 (13-31) in Region games ... four doubles and scored nine runs ... overall, McMillan was 2-1 as a pitcher including a 10-strikeout effort over five innings against Aiken in Lexington's 9-2 win on March 12 ... 22 strikeouts over 16 1/3 innings (9.4 strikeouts per 7 innings) ...

Paquette Performing -- After getting just five at bats during 2012, Zach Paquette started all 33 games, hit .351 (34-97) and finished second on the team with 27 RBI ... added eight stolen bases in 13 attempts ... made the play of the season on May 2 against Lugoff-Elgin in the district 5 championship game ... led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a single, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice and stole home to give the Wildcats a 7-6 win and its second straight district crown

Smitty -- Cody Smith hit .375 in Lexington's three district playoff games ... scored three runs and drove in a pair of runs ... for the season, he hit .300 with runners at third base and less than two outs ... opened the season with a three-run double that highlighted Lexington's 10-0 win over rival Irmo at home ... started 63 games over his final two seasons ...

Josh being Josh -- Lefty Josh Reagan finished 2013 with an 11-0 record and a 1.13 ERA ... went 2-0 in the state championship series firing a four-hitter in the Wildcats' 5-2 win on Monday ... tossed a three-hitter in Friday's 4-0 championship-game victory ... over the past two seasons, Reagan went 18-0 with a 1.08 ERA (7-0 with a 1.02 ERA in 2012) ...

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Hucks Wins 300th -- Among Lexington's 28 wins was the 300th in the career of head coach Brian Hucks ... Lexington beat region-rival South Aiken 3-2 on April 9 for the milestone victory ... Hucks' 14-year head coaching record is 313-114 … won a pair of AAA state championships and had a 258-105 mark in 12 seasons as skipper at Brookland-Cayce High School … he's 55-9 in two seasons at Lexington including the his first AAAA state title this spring ...

Brookland-Cayce
Year, Rec., Titles
2000, 31-3, State Champions, Region
2001, 23-10, District
2002, 26-7, Region, District
2003, 14-9, District
2004, 20-8, Region, District
2005, 19-11, Region, District
2006, 13-15, Region
2007, 20-12, District
2008, 30-2, State Champions, Region, District
2009, 22-9, District
2010, 25-7, District
2011, 15-12

Lexington
Year, Rec., Titles
2012, 27-4, Region, District
2013, 28-5, State Champions, Region, District

Brookland-Cayce: 258-105 (.711)
Lexington: 55-9 (.859)
Totals: 313-114 (.733)

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Mini Recaps from last week

Monday, May 13 -- Lexington 5, Blythewood 2
Lexington, S.C. -- Lefty Josh Reagan pitched a four-hitter and Brandon Camp and Ryan Brown added two hits each that helped top-ranked Lexington to a 5-2 win over 3rd-ranked Blythewood in the opening game of the AAAA best-of-three high school baseball state championship series before a capacity crowd at Wildcats Field on Monday.

Wednesday, May 15 -- Blythewood 7, Lexington 2
Blythewood, S.C. -- Allen Louthian went the distance scattering six hits and Aaron Dahm and Tyler Romanick had two hits each that helped 3rd-ranked Blythewood to a 7-2 win over top-ranked Lexington evening the best-of-three AAAA State Championship high baseball series at 1-all.

Friday, May 17 -- Lexington 4, Blythewood 0
Columbia, S.C. -- Josh Reagan went the distance scattering three hits, Dalton Addy had two hits and Brandon Camp added an RBI double that lifted top-ranked Lexington to a 4-0 win over 3rd-ranked Blythewood and the AAAA State Championship before 6,240 at Carolina Stadium on Friday.

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Title Town - This was Lexington’s 12th state finals appearance in school history and its first since 2003. The Wildcats are 6-6 in state finals all-time. Lexington won state championships in 1963, 1971, 1992, 1994, 1999 and 2013. The Wildcats finished runner-up in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1991 and 2003.

Lexington State Finals breakdown (6-6)

Class A (1-0)
W, 1963 - Lexington over Ware Shoals

Class AAA (1-4)
W, 1971 – Lexington over Garrett, 2-0
L, 1972 – Garrett over Lexington, 0-2
L, 1973 – Hanahan over Lexington, 0-2
L, 1974 – Southside over Lexington
L, 1976 – Hanahan over Lexington, 0-2

Class AAAA (4-2)
L, 1991 – Lancaster over Lexington, 0-2
W, 1992 – Lexington over Lancaster, 2-1
W, 1994 – Lexington over Irmo, 2-0
W, 1999 – Lexington over James Island, 2-1
L, 2003 – Summerville over Lexington, 0-2
W, 2013 – Lexington over Blythewood, 2-1