‘Cayce Boys’ set sights on ending Brookland-Cayce baseball’s championship drought

If you have been to a game or been by Brookland-Cayce’s baseball stadium lately, you can’t miss it.

Located just behind the plate, the words “Cayce Boys” are painted on the field’s pristine grass. The phrase also is written on the back of the B-C players’ hats.

The term reflects the pride players have in playing for the city of Cayce and the close-knit bond that they have with each other. There are 10 seniors on the team and many played on the same travel ball team growing up and knew each other all the way back to when they were playing on the coach’s pitch.

Ty Marshall, Jackson and Hayden Thomas, Jordan Gibbs, Tanner Staton, BJ Etheride and Parker Mergo all played on the same team coached by Joe Mergo, Parker’s father. Joe Mergo is an assistant at B-C under coach Rusty Charpia for the Bearcats.

Now those seniors and rest of guys on the team want to cap their careers with a state title.

“We just want to do something with this team,” Marshall said. “We all want it so bad. Sometimes that could get in our way. If we keep working, grinding and doing things we are supposed to do then we are going to do something special.”

Marshall talked this week about unfinished business and wanting to cap his high school career with a championship. He signed to play at Clemson but would love nothing more than to have a championship ring to show his future teammates when he arrives on campus.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Marshall said of playing for the Tigers. “But right now hopefully I can go up there, tell my buddies and roommates that I came out with a state championship at Brookland-Cayce.”

The Bearcats have a really good shot to win the program’s first title since 2008 when Lexington’s Brian Hucks was the coach. B-C enters the playoffs with a bunch of upperclassmen and is the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A, according to the latest SC Baseball Coaches Poll.

The Bearcats, who went unbeaten in Region 5-3A play, were in a similar spot last season but ran into a powerhouse Oceanside Collegiate team. But the Landsharks moved down to Class 2A because of realignment.

“It is a special bunch. All of them, at least seven or eight of them, have been playing together since they were 8 years old,” Charpia said. “They all know each other and have been waiting for this moment. We thought we were going to pull it off last year, but we ran into a buzzsaw in Oceanside.

“We aren’t taking anything for granted. We know there are some great teams in Class 3A even with Oceanside out. Dreher is still there, Hanahan, Beaufort, Lake City, Camden. Anyone of those teams can beat you. One thing we took from last year is, even though we feel like we have a strong team, we can’t take anybody for granted.”

B-C played a tough non-region schedule to get it ready for the playoffs. The Bearcats played in two tough tournaments in the season-opening Opterra Solutions in Lexington and the H.I.T. Tournament in Charleston.

The Bearcats also played games against 5A schools Dorman, Fort Mill and Chapin, as well as rival Airport.

1-2 pitching punch

Hayden Thomas was relegated to be cheerleader and quasi pitching coach last season as he missed his junior season after having Tommy John surgery.

But this year, Thomas is back at the top of the rotation and is having a big senior season.

“I love being back out here. I missed it a lot last year. Not nervous but anxiousness to be out there again,” Thomas said this week.

Thomas didn’t throw a baseball for about 15 months after the surgery around December of 2021. He worked hard in rehab and didn’t rush to come back.

Thomas was committed to Arkansas before the injury but opened his recruiting back up. He committed to play for Chad Holbrook and College of Charleston earlier this month.

Thomas is 4-0 with a 1.22 ERA. He has struck out 51, walked 16 in 28 2/3 innings. He also is one of the team’s top hitters and is batting .303 with a team-high six homers and 25 RBI.

“I like all the guys. The seniors, we have have been playing together since we were real little. I think we can do it,” Hayden said.

Thomas is paired with fellow left-hander BJ Etheredge at the top of the Bearcats’ rotation. The two form one of the best 1-2 tandems in the state, giving the Bearcats a luxury most don’t have in their rotation.

Etheridge, a junior, is ranked the No. 4 left-hander in South Carolina for the Class of 2024 by Diamond Prospects. He is 3-2 with a 1.11 ERA and has struck out 51 in 37 2/3 innings.

“When you have pitchers that could dot up the corners and make pitches they are supposed to make, it makes your job a lot easier. Props to those two guys,” Marshall said. “They pitch their tails off every single game.”

The deeper the Bearcats go into the playoffs, Charpia knows he has to count on more than his two lefties. But Charpia is confident in the rest of his staff, which includes Rogan Sox, Jackson Thomas, Robert McMillan and Dylan McInchok, among others.

“We feel like we got the staff. We just have to go out and score some more runs,” Charpia said.