The ultimate team player and captain for the ultra-successful Clinton Red Devil baseball team this spring, Luke White made the transition from third base to catcher because the team needed him to.
He was voted captain, and he said he and teammate Davis Wilson took on the role of running practices.
White will take his skills and leadership in the fall to Newberry College and play baseball for the Wolves, 20 miles down Hwy 76 from Clinton at the Smith Road Field. White signed his Institutional Letter of Intent on Thursday at the CHS main gym.
“He’s been our captain all year. It started with him thinking the same as me, that he would play third base - that he was the man; and when you’re the man, you take responsibility on your shoulders. He took on the task of being catcher, day-to-day on a very tough level. There was no one better for the job - the best person to have leading your team. It’s an honor to be here and to celebrate Luke’s next stage,” Clinton Varsity Baseball Head Coach Sean McCarthy said.
White took on the new role after playing third and doing some pitching last season. This fall, Limestone showed interest, but during the spring Newberry came into focus. “They run their practices like we do here,” White said. “It excites me that we have coaches that went to Newberry - they bring the legacy of Newberry here.”
The Wolves’ coaches want him to work one his defensive skills at catcher.
He plays to major in physical education, with an aim of teaching and coaching somewhere nearby; he said he definitely would come back to Clinton.
About being the captain, White said, “It was an honor. They voted on it, and me and Davis - we both actually took it on and led every practice, making everyone better as a player and a person.”
He was an All-Region selection - one of 6 Red Devils named to the 9-man honors squad - on a team that finished 25-7, Region and District Champions, while playing in the Upper State AAA tournament.
On a senior-dominated squad, the underclassmen players looked up to the senior Red Devils for leadership. Heading to college, White takes on the opposite role - he says he is willing to learn from upperclassmen.
This spring, Newberry Baseball finished 38-13, #15 in Division II. On May 1, the Wolves were ousted from the SAC tournament by Catawba. Newberry has the SAC player of the year in Braylin Marine, a red-shirt junior who led the league in batting average, and 6 other all conference players. The Wolves had the league’s highest team batting average, team on base percentage, and team stolen bases.
