Prep Baseball Report

NC/SC Border Battle: Tallying NC vs. SC - Who Won?


Brandon Hall
North Carolina Director of Scouting

On July 24th, top players from North Carolina and South Carolina converged on Winthrop University for the first ever NC/SC Border Battle.  The Border Battle allowed players to workout and compete in front of college coaches and pro scouts, while updating their information for their PBR Profile, connecting them with over 900 college coaches and pro scouts that subscribe to PBR.

The event was a huge success with players from each state impressing those in attendance.  The process to break all of the information down has begun.  Player statistics have been loaded to the event page and onto each player’s personal PBR Profile.  PBR Scouts are pouring over all the information to produce evaluations on each player, and notes from the event.

Below we take a look at which state won several key categories from the 1st ever NC/SC Border Battle. 

 

 CLICK HERE to see the full statistics from the NC/SC Border Battle.

 

NC/SC Border Battle:  State vs. State

 

Game Play

In totality, North Carolina won two games to South Carolina’s 1 game.  However, these games were played with some controlling factors and innings were rolled at times to keep pitchers below a pitch count.  For that reason, we will call the Game Play portion a draw.  This means to determine a winner of the 1st NC/SC Border Battle we need to dive into the statistical analysis.

 

Max Fastball

The top fastball came from South Carolina’s Lucas Landon (RHP, Blythewood HS, 2020).  Lucas touched 92, working 90-91 in his 1 inning of work.  Three of the next four fastball’s came from North Carolina, but the top slot goes to South Carolina.

The median fastball for all of the South Carolina arms that threw equated to 84 mph.  The median fastball for North Carolina arms worked up to 80 mph.  Advantage South Carolina.

Max Fastball Border Battle Winner:  Team South Carolina

 

Timed 60 Yard Dash

Reece Holbrook (OF, Hammond HS, 2021) took home the crown of the fastest laser timed 60 for the event.  The South Carolina native rolled a 6.58 on the laser.  The next three fastest 60 times did below to North Carolina with a total of 19 runners from each state turning in a sub-7.00 sixty.

The median 60 time for South Carolina came in at 7.28.  North Carolina’s median 60 time sits at 7.15.  Advantage North Carolina.  With the fastest man coming from South Carolina and the median time from the state’s going to North Carolina, this stat becomes a push.

Timed 60 Yard Dash Border Battle Winner:  Push

 

Exit Velocity

The lead exit velocity was turned in by Mitchell Seymour (RHP/OF, Pro5 Academy, 2020).  Seymour touched 95 mph off the barrel to take the individual crown.  From a team standpoint, North Carolina’s hitters had a median exit velocity of 88 mph.  South Carolina’s hitters median exit velocity worked up to 83 mph.

Exit Velocity Border Battle Winner:  North Carolina

 

Catcher Pop Times

The top pop time was posted by Alejandro Rodriguez (C/SS, Wesleyan Christian Academy, 2020).  Rodriguez was 1.90 – 1.99 with the arm carrying 81 mph out of the crouch.  North Carolina’s catchers median top pop time came in at 2.07.  South Carolina’s catchers median top pop time registered at 2.18.

Catcher Pop Time Border Battle Winner: North Carolina

 

Positional Velocity

Landon Lucas and his big arm comes through again for Team South Carolina.  Lucas was 90 mph across the diamond during his defensive workout, leading all infielders.  From the outfield, Zane Taylor (OF/RHP, Pro5 Academy, 2020) gets North Carolina back to even in the category with a 94 mph throw during his outfield workout.

As we move to the median arm grades, South Carolina infielders posted a 79 mph rating across the diamond.  North Carolina infielders also posted a median arm grade across the infield of 79 mph.  The outfielders from South Carolina measured their median arm grade came at 81 mph.  North Carolina’s outfielders posted a median arm grade of 82 mph.

With a push in category leaders and median arm grades across the diamond.  The median outfield scores decide the category.

Top Positional Velocity Border Battle Winner: North Carolina

 

Score Board

Event Winner
Game Play Push
Max Fastball South Carolina
Timed 60 Push
Exit Velocity North Carolina
Catcher Pop Times North Carolina
Positional Velocity North Carolina

PBR of North Carolina has taken the initial NC/SC Border Battle by a score of 3-1.  With NC’s Director of Scouting Brandon Hall writing this report, and tallying all totals, we are expecting a full protest and appeal process.  Regardless of the final tally, the talent on hand was the big winner as they competed and showed out in front of 20+ schools from across the two states. This event will continue to be marked as a “must see” event as the directors continue to hear from the top talent in each state that they want to represent their state at this event.

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