East Clarendon's McConnell pops 1st varsity homer on his way to Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

Heading into region play last week, East Clarendon's Barnes McConnell was ready for a fresh start.

The junior didn't feel like he was swinging the bat to the best of his capabilities, so he put in the work to straighten things out. McConnell did so in spades. He launched the first home run of his varsity career and hit .417 for the week. On the bump, he added another 4 2/3 innings of work where he didn't allow an earned run. That performance was more than enough to earn recognition as the Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week.

"It feels great," McConnell said of the support from his community. "Growing up, everyone being around me has just been great, just having everyone behind me."

East Clarendon head coach Curtis Johnson has seen McConnell spend countless hours working on his craft, so he was glad to watch his first baseman see the fruits of his labor.

"He's a worker. He works, man," Johnson said. "He hits off the tee, he stays late. When you work, a lot of times it works out for you."

McConnell was focused on his approach at the plate heading into the week. After seeing some top-flight pitching during their first tournament of the season, he felt like he was trying too hard to pull the ball. Once he opened up his approach to hit the ball to the entire field, the hits started piling up. He finished the week with three extra base hits and four RBIs as EC went 3-1, including two blowout wins over Lake City to open region play.

"That first game against Lake City was the turning point. I just locked in and tried to hit the ball to the back side instead of trying to pull the ball," he said. "It was just having the right mindset going into at bats, going into the game and having a plan going into those games helps a lot.

"When we played West Florence in that tournament, we were seeing high 80s, low 90s, so after seeing that, I was able to see the ball a lot better last week. I worked on the swing a lot."

McConnell's biggest highlight of the week came on the first pitch he saw against Socastee. With a runner on first, McConnell took a fastball and drove it over the fence in left field. He could tell during batting practice that his swing was feeling good, and he didn't need long to prove himself correct.

"I hit three out in BP before the game started, and I told my teammate Hunter Mixon, 'I have a good feeling about today. I'm going to hit one out first pitch,'" McConnell recalled. "I went up there, and my mindset was to do damage. The first pitch was right down the middle, and I just put a good swing on it. Off the bat, I didn't think it was gone, but I rounded first and I saw it, and it was a great feeling."

The matchup at Socastee came with some high highs and low lows for the Wolverines. They carried an 8-3 lead into the seventh, but the wheels fell off. They allowed five runs to tie the game. They jumped out in front 10-8 in the top of the ninth but again let the lead slip away, learning some important lessons in the process.

"It's a tough loss, but it's a good learning point that no matter how well we start off a game, we always have to finish," McConnell said. "You can't give up at the end and stop trying; you have to keep your foot on the gas and throw strikes. Walks and hit by pitches killed us that game. It's hard to win when you have six free bases in the last inning or so."

EC bounced back with an 8-2 win over Lake City on Friday before hosting the Chop Lee Invitational on Saturday. The Wolverines met up with South Florence to close out the day and found themselves in an early 6-1 hole with a couple of shaky innings. McConnell and company learned from their loss to Socastee and just kept fighting. They chipped away at the lead with three runs in the fifth before scoring three more in the seventh, winning on a walk-off sacrifice bunt.

"As a team, we decided to play how we play. We went into South Florence and had that rough inning. Instead of giving up like we kinda did at Socastee, we fought back, and we executed," McConnell said. "We bunted the ball, we hit the ball. We played how we should play."

McConnell did a little bit of everything in the win. He doubled twice, driving in three runs, while pitching 3 2/3 innings in relief of Cooper Goff. Two runs crossed home plate after he entered the game in the fourth, but neither were earned against McConnell. He kept South Florence at bay long enough to spark the comeback, allowing just two hits and a walk.

"Having a defense like ours with our team captain Foster Matthews at shortstop and our second baseman (Blease Hardy) ensuring that we're going to be all right. Having someone behind you is always a good feeling, so when I went up there to pitch, I gave up two runs in the first inning, but I knew my team was going to have my back, and I went scoreless innings after that," he said. "Just knowing you have a team behind you that can make plays is always a good thing to go into a game with."

McConnell kept the good times rolling this week, going 2-4 with three RBIs against Manning on Wednesday. He's just focused on continuing his hard work during practice to make sure his bat stays hot.

"For every game I play, I try to get at least 50 to 100 balls off the tee, just getting reps," McConnell said. "Having a mindset is the biggest thing. I talked to my hitting coach, Coach (Preston) Shuey, and he thinks it's always been a mindset thing for me when I go to the plate. It's never been the swing; the swing has been fine. It's always been what to think about, so what I thought going into the week is to just have an approach going into the at bat, like on a 1-2 count, choke up and put the ball in play. The small things can turn your week around like mine really quick."

Johnson has seen his entire team embrace that mindset as they look to make a run this spring.

"Those guys are really buying into what we're trying to do," Johnson said. "Those guys are really working hard and buying into the fact that we're trying to keep our hands inside the baseball and making good, hard, solid contact. Hitting is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. Sometimes you'll smoke a ball and you'll get out, and sometimes you'll hit it off the end and get a hit, so they're really working hard to try to control what they can control."