Campus Commuter

   Players from every team except host Spartanburg apparently came down with food poisoning at the American Legion state championship tournament being held in Duncan Park Stadium.
   Conspiracy theorists, go right ahead.
   “I think it happened at the banquet (Tuesday night),” said Florence head coach Derick Urquhart. “Thirteen of my 18 guys were really sick today. Only half the team went to lunch. The rest had to stay close to the bathrooms. We made a couple of trips to the drug store to get medicine.”
   Not one member of the Spartanburg team got sick.
   “I don’t know. We all ate the same thing (at the banquet),” Spartanburg head coach Matthew West said. “I didn’t eat the potato salad. Maybe all my guys skipped the potato salad.”

   Honestly, I’m really afraid to know what kind of grade our guests from out of town might give us right now. We love it out at Duncan Park, especially for something like this. It's tough to hear people complain.
   * Other teams think we made them sick.
   * Coaches in the first game said the sloppy infield from rain during the early innings made it unplayable. Top -seed West Columbia slipped all over the place, falling behind by nine runs and eventually losing by two.
   * There is a winners’ bracket game at 10 a.m. Thursday.
   * Clearing the stadium after every game, even if you had a pass for the day, was kind of a pain.
   * Games are scheduled for three hours apart, even though it takes about 45 minutes between games and two-hour American Legion games are rare if not impossible. The first game Wednesday was played in a brisk 4:03, putting everything that far behind already.
   * The covered seating area is blocked off for reconstruction because it’s been considered unsafe. As a result, nobody could escape the rain or the sun when it eventually came out.
   * Bathrooms are up in the closed-off section and people didn’t enjoy using portable toilets. At least they didn’t have the potato salad.

   Hey, it  builds character.

   PITCHER OF THE DAY: Spencer Jordan, Florence.
   Jordan, a powerful right-hander from South Florence High School and Florence-Darlington Tech, pitched a complete game in a 5-1 win against Spartanburg. The only run for Post 28 scored on a squeeze bunt.

   HITTER OF THE DAY: John Gump, Conway.
   The slugging first baseman from Carolina Forest and Erskine hit two home runs, a double, a sacrifice fly and went 4-for-5 in the 14-12 win against West Columbia. He never hit a ball right of shortstop.

   QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The field was treacherous. Neither team should have been playing. You couldn’t stand up out there.” – West Columbia head coach Legree Oswald.

   THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE: Conway vs. Irmo-Chapin, 10 a.m.; Sumter vs. West Columbia (elimination game), 1:30 p.m.; Gaffney vs. Florence, 4:30 p.m.; Spartanburg vs. Georgetown (elimination game), 7:30 p.m.