‘Swansea Baseball is Headed to the Playoffs!’
An Article on the Swansea Tiger Baseball Team heading into the playoffs after a 21-5 regular season record and second place finish in the 3A Region 4.
Written by Brady Henderson
For the second consecutive season, the Swansea Tigers are heading to the playoffs after a 2nd place finish in 3A Region 4. While Fox Creek has won 3-region titles in a row, the Tigers are looking to make some noise in the playoffs. For those who are not aware of how High School Baseball playoffs work, the Lower State 3A classification’s current format is that there are 16 teams numbered from 1-16 called ‘seeds. Then, the 16 teams are placed into 4 pods/districts and play one another according to seeding. Seeding is determined by each team's finish in their respective region. For example, Swansea finished second in the region, so they could have been placed as a 4-6 seed. Per SCHSL rules, they were placed as a 5-seed. The Playoffs include double elimination. If a team does lose, the process becomes even harder to reach the ‘District Championship’ series, but it is not impossible. Here’s a picture of Swansea’s District Bracket.
There will be 4 winners of each district who will all play one another in the finale of the 3A Lower State Playoffs. The winner of that will then play the Upper State Winner in a 3-game series. All of that is in the far future. I wanted to give you the basics for how the 3A playoffs will work this year. Before the Tigers can think of any of that, they have to deal with the Dolphins of Battery Creek on Tuesday in Swansea at 6 PM. We encourage you to come support the Tigers in person, and/or listen to our live broadcast. The Battery Creek Baseball team finished fourth place in Region 8, with two of their three wins this season coming against region foe, North Charleston. They finished the season with a 3-13 regular-season record and lost all region series to Oceanside Collegiate Academy, Hanahan, and Orangeburg-Wilkinson. We will begin our livestream against Battery Creek on Tuesday at 5:40 PM on our YouTube Channel.
As previously mentioned, the Swansea Tigers have finished second in Region 4 for two consecutive years behind Fox Creek. Earlier this week, the Tigers lost at home to the Predators 4-1, but went on the road this past Thursday and won a tight game against Newberry, 4-3. That win on Thursday against the Bulldogs marks the 4th time this season the Tigers have beaten Newberry. The Tigers are entering the Playoffs as the #7-ranked team in 3A Baseball with a 21-5 overall record. Under the Leadership of Head Coach Preston Deaver, the Tigers come into the playoffs with a team batting average of .336, an on-base percentage of .442 and a total of 243 hits on the season. As a team, the Tigers average 7.85 runs per game and give up only 3.62, with 2.08 of those runs being earned. The Tiger offense has been led this season by multiple Tigers, but you can’t help but look at what #7 Sophomore SS/P Kendall Wright has done at the plate. For the 2026 Regular Season, Kendall Wright hit a region-leading .520 average, .561 OBP, hit 2 HR’s, 29 RBIs, and a region-leading 32 Stolen Bases, and had been caught stealing only 4 times. Kendall has been special, but we know that baseball is a team game! #13 1B/P Senior Justice Ard has 22 RBIs on the season (2nd on the team) and has hit an average of .310. #10 3B Senior Dalton Porter, who battled back to play this season after tearing his ACL last year, has 21 RBIs on the season (3rd on the team) and has an OBP of .427 with a team-leading 13 walks. The Tiger offense has been strong. In addition to Wright, Ard, and Porter, without the Bats of Jacob Hair, Alex McFarland, Fillip Rummel, Logan Hoover, Britt Drawdy, Daniel Graddick, Trey Brisco, and more, the 7.85 runs scored per game would not be possible.
You can’t talk about this team’s success without discussing the Pitching Staff. Behind Second Year Pitching Coach Tristen Watts, the Tiger Arms have been what some would call ‘Great’ or even ‘Elite’, at times. The Swansea Pitching Staff has a team ERA of 1.66, and opposing batters are hitting .207 against Tiger Pitching. The Tigers are giving up, on average, 5 hits per game and allowing 3.5 walks per game. Senior Pitcher #2 Trey Brisco, leads the Tiger Pitching staff in innings pitched with 42. Kendall Wright #7 and Senior #18 Britt Drawdy both lead the staff in ERA. Wright with a 1.20 ERA with 31 innings pitched and Drawdy with a 1.08 ERA in 13 innings pitched. Kendall Wright, Justice Ard, and Josy Cerda all have 2 saves. The Tiger Pitching staff has been strong, and we hope this continues through the playoffs. For this team to accomplish all that is possible and what I believe they can, they must put all the pieces together, keep working hard, and rely on their teammates!
As a fan, I encourage you to come out and support this special team in our community as we hope to keep watching them make history.
It’s been an exciting season, and it’s my first one as a play-by-play broadcaster. I couldn’t ask for anything more, other than a State Championship Win. Let’s go, Tigers, and finish strong!
Take Care of Yourselves, and Each Other.
-Brady Henderson
Play-by-Play voice of the Tigers
Email: Bradylovesjesus24@gmail.com