News and Announcements

Congatulations to RHP Jamie Callahan (Dillon HS 2012/ USC Commit) on being selected in the 2nd Round of the 2012 MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox.  He was recently named the Gatorade South Carolina Baseball Player of the Year after going 7-1 with one save, a 0.89 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 50.0 innings. Callahan, who was tabbed the Region 8-2A Player of the Year, also hit .439 with five homers and 32 RBI to help lead his team to the Region 8-2A title. An All-State selection each of the past two years, he played in the 2011 Under Armour All-American Game.  Jamie was a standout in the Shockwave Baseball program in 2010 & 2011.

 Follow Jamie's progress with the GCL Red Sox (Season begins June 18th): http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t471

MLB.com COVERAGE: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22032911&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_22032911&v=3

Post Draft Interview:  http://youtu.be/dwFLilY-LKc

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Published: Friday, June 08, 2012
Jeff Dahn PG Staff Reporter

MARIETTA, Ga. - How does this sound as a perfect recipe for success:

"We're just going out there and we're throwing a lot of strikes right now and we're not (giving) a lot of free bases out there. We're making all the routine plays and we're putting a lot of people on base. We're playing good, aggressive baseball, stealing a lot of bases and putting pressure on the other teams."

Those were the words spoken by SC Shockwave 17U (National) head coach Lee Gronkiewicz on Friday afternoon after he helped guide his team to its third straight one-sided victory at the 17u/18u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational. Shockwave 17U's win Friday was a 9-0, five-inning walk-in-the-park past the East Cobb Dodgers in a game played at Kell High School, right across the street from the East Cobb Baseball Complex.

SC Shockwave 17U (National)'s stroll through pool play the last three days was nothing short of breathtaking. 17U (National) - there is also a SC Shockwave 17U (American) playing in the tournament - needed only 13 innings to dispose of three opponents by a combined score of 33-1.

The onslaught began on Wednesday with a 15-0, three-inning win over the Pittsburgh Dirtbags. And then the Nationals needed only five innings to beat the East Cobb Giants, 9-1, on Thursday before dispatching the EC Dodgers on Friday.

The 16-team playoffs, which are not seeded this year, begin Saturday.

"The next round is going to be a great competition for us," Gronkiewicz said. "It was just the luck of the draw with the (pool pairings) that we were able to have some shortened games and save some pitching for the next round."

The pitching couldn't have been any more stellar for the Nationals during pool-play. Left-handers Hunter Hill (2013, Little Mountain, S.C.) and Stephen McKnight (2012, Easly, S.C.), and righty Zach Mitchell (2013, Bowling Springs, S.C.) combined to allow only one run on six hits in 13 innings (0.54 ERA) while striking out 20 and walking but three.

"They all pound the zone with strikes and they all compete," Gronkiewicz said of his pitchers. "The key in a wood bat tournament is not giving up free bases. We've got to go out there and pound the zone and let the guys put it in play, and I love our defensive play; we've got good athletes behind (the pitchers)."

Some of those good athletes include NCAA Division I commits Tucker Burgess (2013, Easly, S.C.) who has committed to Clemson; Dillon Palencia (2013, Cowpens, S.C.), to Winthrop; and Corey Thompson (Mauldin, S.C.), a South Carolina recruit.

Another South Carolina recruit that was on the SC Shockwave 17U (National) roster but was a no-show this week was Jamie Callahan; he was taken in the second round of the MLB amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.

The hitting stars for the squad over the first three days of play here have been Hayden Heflin (2013, Summerville, S.C.), Thatcher Coleman (2013, Bishopville, S.C.) and Thompson. Heflin was 4-for-6 with three doubles and six RBI; Coleman 4-for-5 with four RBI; and Thompson 4-for-6 with four RBI. All 11 batters who went to the plate in the first three games collected at least one hit and Shockwave 17u (National) hit .459 as a team.

Again, it's the perfect recipe for success.

"We set up our pitching rotation with the hope that we'd be playing on Saturday and hopefully be playing on Sunday. This is what we expect from this team," Gronkiewicz said. "We have a good nucleus of returning players and guys (committing) to college already; these guys are mostly D-I guys who are going to be playing."

Shockwave Baseball, based in Columbia, S.C., came into existence in 2005 with a stated mission to promote "an atmosphere conducive to continuous improvement and enhancing the learning process while setting new standards for Character, Commitment and Work Ethic on and off the field", according to its website.

Gronkiewicz is in his first season helping coach with the organization. He previously coached the Columbia (S.C.) Blowfish in the summer collegiate Coastal Plains League, and also played professionally for nine years. He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 2001 and spent nine years in the minor leagues.

He did get to sample The Show, however. He pitched in one game for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2007, and gave up one run on two hits in four innings of work. It was his only big league appearance.

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Posted by Aubrey Heflin at May 7, 2012 5:00PM PDT ( 0 Comments )

USA BASEBALL National Team Tryout Camps  

SHOCKWAVE BASEBALL Staff is honored to lead the USA Baseball NTIS (National Team Identification Series) for the state of SC.  There will be 4 One Day events held this summer SMC (Jun 13), CCU (Jun 19), CofC (Jun 27) & USC (Jul 5). These events will be Showcase Camp format and include Instruction and a Scrimmage.  For more info:  USA BASEBALL NTIS

 SHOCKWAVE BASEBALL  join "WORLD SCOUT LEAGUE"

 The World Scout League makes it inagural debut this summer across the country. Only the best of the best national programs have been invited to participate in what will be a marked improvement in summer baseball for college prospects. For more info:  World Scout League

NATIONAL RANKINGS are posted on PERFECT GAME:

Final Rankings for 2011 have been announced and SC ShockWave is the only "Nationally Ranked" Showcase Team program in South Carolina (15u, 16u 0r 17u).  Preseason Rankings for 2012 TBA soon... 

15u RANKINGS (ShockWave #12):  http://www.perfectgame.org/Rankings/TravelTeams/15u/teams.aspx

16u RANKINGS (ShockWave #12): http://www.perfectgame.org/Rankings/TravelTeams/16u/teams.aspx 

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HOTELS by LOCATION

Posted by Aubrey Heflin at Feb 13, 2012 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

FLORENCE:

Wingate by Windham(843) 629-1111 Website:   http://www.wingatehotels.com/Wingate/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=07519&cid=IP-WIN_PPC_GGL_TM&brandInfo=WG 

GROUP CONTACT: Amanda Melton

Previous Rates 

Fall 2011 - $64/nt for 2 DBL or 1 KING standard room.

 Comfort Suites - (843) 662-5295 Website: http://www.comfortsuites.com/hotel-florence-south_carolina-SC378

GROUP CONTACT: Issac 

Previous Rates Fall 2011 - $79/nt for 2 Queen or 1 King bed suite. 
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WORLD SCOUT LEAGUE

Posted by Aubrey Heflin at Nov 30, 2011 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

The summer of 2012 will mark the Inaugural Season of a concept that will forever change summer baseball for the better.  After careful consideration, and feedback from the nation’s top travel baseball coaches, the World Scout League (WSL) has been born. By increasing the level of play from opposing competition, the result will be a marked improvement over the current formats and avoid the frustration with the current overall experience of summer baseball that includes watered-down competition, rising entry fees, travel coach burnout, and disorganized overall structure.

Two industry pioneers, Prospect Wire founder Matt Bomeisl, and the original Team One Baseball founder Jeff Spelman, are attempting to fix the current summer baseball setup of expensive, cattle-call tournament play, by combining their ideas from the past 14 months of meetings with the goal to change summer baseball for the better.

"Travel baseball is at a crossroads," said Bomeisl. "There is a lot that is good and a lot that is bad. And the way things are progressing, it is only going to get worse unless the structure changes."

"Our goal has been to form something that the top teams could participate in," Spelman said. "Tournament hosts don’t draw college coaches and pro scouts, talent does. So we’re trying to get the best of the best together so that they can always play the best competition. I think it’s pretty special being tied into something nationally that the best teams from the rest of the country are participating in." 

The WSL promises to not occupy a team’s entire summer schedule, and allows flexible scheduling and the freedom to join events that are a tradition on each team’s schedule. They will have 5 team Leagues nationwide.  WSL teams will participate in local, regional, and national  events within their league structure holding elite small-scale, round-robin styled tournaments with games counting towards league standings. Those standings will serve towards seeding for a major end of the summer tournament.

"At the end of the summer we split the country in half the way USA Baseball does. All of the teams from Texas to California will go to Arizona for the ‘World Finals West’ and from Louisiana to the East will go to Florida for the ‘World Finals East.’  What you’ll end up having are 100-team super tournaments that will be a tremendous scouting attraction to close out the summer with," Spelman said.

"Some of the best teams have yet to be released," Bomeisl continued. "We have an extremely impressive list of teams nationwide committed to this concept. In fact, the real exciting thing is we haven’t gotten a "no" yet. It seems like this was the idea that everyone has been waiting for."

League scorekeepers will be present at every game played nationwide and their job will be will be tracking real-time stats and scores from every game across the country using Sport NGIN’s newly designed iPad Baseball Scorekeeping app that will feed the data straight to the World Scout League website.

"The scorekeeping will help power league leaders across the nation in a ton of scouting categories, as well as MVP races, all division, all region and All-American teams," Spelman said. "Further, all stats, standings, scouting notes, and scores will be on one, easy-to-navigate, state-of-the-art website."

NOTES:

  • Under the WSL format, only one team per age per organization is allowed to play in the same 5 team league.  SC ShockWave has committed to join the WSL in the 15U, 16U, 17U and 18U age groups. 
  • League schedule has been reduced to one LOCAL, one REGIONAL and one NATIONAL event.    

WSL website under development:  www.worldscoutleague.com