The Grind, presented by the Bank of Clarendon: Laurence Manning's Balls sparks Swampcats at top of lineup

Laurence Manning senior BJ Balls was born to hit baseballs.

Other than it literally being in his last name, the lefty comes from a long line of baseball players. His grandma played both softball and baseball, and his dad, along with most of his extended family, played the sport growing up. Stephen Balls, BJ's dad, still holds records at Lakewood for his lightning speed on the base paths, and BJ grew up with that same juice.

BJ is in the home stretch of his senior year, as the Swampcats prepare to begin their playoff journey next week. He finished the regular season with a ridiculous .500 batting average and got on base nearly 60% of the time this spring. Now, he's setting the table for a playoff run as the 'Cats look to make a run to the SCISA 4A state title.

"It's a mind thing. If you've got it set in the mind that you know what you can do and not overthink everything, you'll be fine after that," BJ said of his success this spring. "That's how I've been playing this year, just going out there, having fun and playing every inning like it's my last."

FAMILY TIES

The Balls family is passionate about baseball. As long as BJ can remember, he's had a ball or a bat in his hand.

"I just grew up into it," he said. "All I can remember is me in the front yard with my dad with a PVC pipe and small whiffle balls, hitting it, and I just went from there."

Stephen played at Lakewood for BJ's current coach at Laurence Manning, Barry Hatfield, before spending a season at Spartanburg Methodist. But his playing days continued well into BJ's life, as Stephen and several relatives played in the Gamecock League, hitting the ball field on Eagle Drive close to their home.

"We used to play Bush League, and he would ride to the game with me, want to go out there and hit, practice with us on Tuesday and Thursday. He wanted to hit and wouldn't get out of the way. 'BJ, get out the way, you're not old enough yet,'" Stephen recalled saying. "We all played baseball, and every little thing we talked about, we tell BJ. We'll show him a little bit, too."

Early on, BJ took a lot from his father. He already shared the same first name, going by BJ for Balls Jr., and mirrors his dad's play on the field with a smooth swing from the left side of the plate while throwing with his right hand. One afternoon, while playing catch with his dad's cousin, he suddenly started throwing with his left, and that's what stuck.

"We would play catch, and I would let him hit on the Hit-A-Way. My family had a baseball field, so we used to go to the baseball field, so we used to go to the field and practice a lot," Stephen said. "I'd give him a bunch of ground balls and throw soft-toss to him, just to let him know the basics of the game."

AN EARLY START AT LAKEWOOD

Like his father, BJ started his high school career at Lakewood, but he got a bit of a head start. After his seventh-grade season was erased by COVID-19, BJ spent the summer playing for the Sumter Flyers, and LHS head coach Bill DeLavan saw the success the young first baseman had against older competition, so he gave BJ a shot.

"I was just out there for experience and to get better, and after him seeing that and me putting the work in, he moved me up, and I did what I had to do," BJ said. "The first couple of games, I went out there thinking, I got moved up to varsity. I was one of the big kids, and I got humbled fast. That leveled everything out."

Despite a few "Welcome to varsity" moments as an eighth-grader, BJ was pretty successful out of the gate. He joined an experienced Lakewood squad that won their first region championship since 2006. A year later, he was an on-base machine, posting an OBP (on-base percentage) of .451 as the Gators claimed consecutive region titles. The young first baseman learned so much in his first two seasons of varsity ball.

"It was great. We had great leaders back then, too," BJ said. "We had, I think, six seniors. That was a great senior class my eighth-grade year. Everybody just hustled; we were just scrappy. We didn't talk much. We just did what we had to do, did our job."

After that senior class graduated, Lakewood struggled. BJ hit .429 as a sophomore but felt the weight of the entire offense on his shoulders during a bumpy spring, so he decided to join his dad's old head coach at LMA for the last two years of his high school career.

"It was kind of a rough decision and kind of hard because I didn't want to leave my coach," BJ said. "At the same time, I knew that he wanted to see me succeed no matter what, so he was not gonna hold a grudge against me just for leaving him. He understood where I was coming from with the situation."

THE MOVE TO LMA

When BJ decided to come to Laurence Manning, Barry had an idea of the player he was getting because of Stephen, but he wasn't sure how smooth the transition would be. BJ quickly proved his head coach didn't need to be concerned.

"How was he going to get along with our kids, is he going to feel comfortable? Is he going to fit into the culture that we have?" Barry said of his early questions. "It was evident from the start that BJ is an exceptional young man. He's swung the bat extremely well. He was a little bit of a pull-hitter. We worked on that, and he uses the whole field. I knew he was fast, but he was bigger than I was expecting. He just really gelled with our program and our kids so fast. Him being such a good kid, he's just been a pleasure to be around."

BJ joined LMA at a fascinating time. The program won the SCISA 3A title in 2022 but lost a big senior class for the spring of 2023. They were also without their star shortstop, Tyler June, who transferred to P27, a baseball academy in Columbia, to prepare for his eventual move to the University of South Carolina. When BJ moved during last year, June also decided to come back to the Swampcats but battled a shoulder injury and eventually missed the very end of the season after undergoing surgery.

On top of joining a program with championship expectations, his best protection in the lineup was gone by the end of the year. Barry expected that BJ wasn't going to see many pitches down the stretch. In their second-to-last game against Ben Lippen, a narrow 4-2 victory, he was proven correct. Three days later, their season ended with a loss to Augusta Christian.

"I told my assistant coaches, I don't mean anything bad, but I would not pitch to (BJ). I would walk him when he came to the plate, and they walked him four times," Barry said. "They wouldn't let him beat them, and I would've done the same. For him not to get frustrated and swing at pitches out of the zone, it says a lot about him as a baseball player."

WORK ETHIC

After that loss, BJ went back to work. The lefty is hungry for success and spent his summer honing his craft as he worked to get to the next level.

"You've just gotta put it into work and do it. (You) can't be lazy; I'm not about to sit around and just not do nothing. It's just the things you've got to do," BJ said. "I work hard at what I do."

BJ spent a lot of time working on hitting the ball to all areas of the field. He credits assistant coach Robbie Mooneyham for not only helping him develop as a hitter, but also to find a new level of tenacity.

"Coach Mooneyham plays a big part of it," BJ said. "He's kind of some of the reason I'm the dog I am now."

Stephen also thinks a trip down to play at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Florida helped him expand his game.

"As we went through that, I could see it was getting better and better for him," Stephen said. "I told him if you get an invite, you might as well go. Don't wait 10 years and say you could've done this or that. It was good for him to see different players from different states. Now he's maturing more. Two years ago, he thought he had to do everything by himself. I told him that's what you have teammates for, just be mature and play your part, do your job."

BJ also had a chance to work on a different area of his athleticism. After a few years away from football, he decided to come out for the team this fall and was named to the North-South All-Star game after an incredible senior season after catching 32 passes for 576 yards and six touchdowns. He also had 33 tackles on defense and 250 kick return yards.

"I was just sitting in my room playing Fortnite, and I got a phone call from Coach (Robbie) Briggs. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him I was playing the game," BJ recalled. "He said, 'Well you're too athletic to be sitting down playing a video game. I want to see you next Tuesday at practice.' I showed up, and they had a 7-on-7, and the first pass, they just threw it to me and I caught it and scored, and it just went from there."

SPECTACULAR SENIOR SEASON

BJ hit the ground running right away this spring. Laurence Manning enters the postseason with a spectacular 17-2 record, and BJ is one of the driving forces. While manning the leadoff spot, BJ had reached base in every single game. He's only failed to record a base hit once, their 5-4 win over Trinity Collegiate which clinched the region title, but he still got on base twice with a pair of walks. BJ leads the team with 24 steals and 31 runs scored.

"He's the kid you tell your pitchers, 'Don't give him anything good to hit, but we need to keep him off the base paths,'" Barry said. "He's a kid you don't want to give him a good pitch, but on the flip side, he puts high school pitchers in a bind because he's got a good eye, and you can't walk him either.

"When you start off a game - or any inning - with your leadoff hitter on, whether by walk or base hit or reaching on an error, you're putting the defense in a bind. He's been a really good leadoff hitter in that he squares balls up, he gets base hits, he covers the entire field, but he's not a kid that's going to go up there and just hack randomly at anything that's white and moving; he's going to work the pitcher."

BJ didn't spend his spring obsessing over his ludicrous batting average. In fact, he saw it for the first time the week before spring break.

"None, all I care about is winning right now," BJ said of how much attention he's given to his stats. "The first time I looked at my batting average was yesterday because coach put everybody's batting averages on the board before practice yesterday."

He doesn't have a big head about those gaudy numbers either. He just wants to keep producing at the top of the lineup.

"Keep working, don't stop there," BJ said of his approach. "It's all a mental game. Everything can go down in a blink of an eye, so you have to keep working."

One reason for BJ's success this spring is some added firepower behind him in the lineup. Brentston Rembert transferred in from Sumter High and has been an RBI machine in the No. 3 spot. Grainger Powell has been consistent in the four hole, too, meaning there's a good chance if BJ gets on base, he's going to come home.

"Brentston Rembert hits third, and he's leading us in RBIs, probably because BJ is on base so much. Grainger Powell has made a big jump from his freshman to his sophomore year as far as putting the ball in play," Barry said. "The first five or six hitters, we're competitive at the plate. If you don't get him out, you're putting yourself in a situation where you can not only give up one run, but you can give up a crooked number, so it's helped."

As LMA gears up for a postseason run, Barry just wants to see his leadoff man keep the same mindset he's had all spring.

"I just need him to be himself, not try to overburden himself with stress or anything like that," the Swampcat head coach said. "We just need to continue to develop later on in the lineup, get eight and nine on with him coming to the plate; that puts a lot of stress on people defensively. And not just because of his hitting. Coming out of the left-handed batter's box, he can create reaching on error because he makes everyone have to speed up."

LEADERSHIP

BJ said the key to Laurence Manning's success this season is simple - they have an exceptional group of leaders.

"Just the leadership," BJ said of what makes this year's team special. "We just pick each other up every day. We don't try to yell at each other because once you do that, you get down on each other; we need to believe in each other because that's the only way we're gonna win."

While his senior first baseman isn't the most outspoken player on the team, Barry appreciates the leadership he provides day in and day out.

"The kids listen to him. This is a kid that's only been here a year and a half, and the younger kids have a lot of respect for him," the LMA head coach said. "He's kind of our offensive leader. He's not a rah-rah type kid, he doesn't say a whole lot, but when he does, they listen. They count on him to get us going offensively. He's done very well. I don't necessarily need a rah-rah type leader. I'd rather kids lead by example and be very soft-spoken and get his point across. If you've got a kid who yells all the time, eventually you kind of tune him out. He's not been that kid; he leads by example, he leads by work ethic, he speaks to the team, and they listen to him."

FUTURE IN BASEBALL

BJ is going to carry on his baseball career next season with another program deeply tied to his roots in the sport.

The first baseman is headed to Florence-Darlington next season, where he'll play for Preston McDonald, another of Barry's former Lakewood players and assistants.

"Flo-Dar has become one of the top JUCO programs not only in the state, but in the nation. For him to go there, I know he's going to be taught well. I know he's going to be around good people," Barry said of BJ's new program. "Left-handed hitting and speed, you tend to find somewhere for them in the lineup. He's going to have the opportunity to compete at the highest level."

BJ has been successful at every stop on the diamond, and he doesn't plan to see that come to an end up in Florence.

"I'm just going to keep the same mentality," BJ said. "I'm not going to change nothing up right now. I mean, there's no need to right now. If I have to, I will. The game is going to get faster, though. I have to get ready mentally more. I'm there, but I'm not all the way there yet."

The Balls family can't wait to see what BJ will do next.

"For him to do what he's doing, it's a blessing," Stephen said. "My mom, my brother, they love it, and I love it. I just want him to be successful. BJ's got a passion for the game, so that's why it's panning out like it is."