Bishop England baseball ranked No. 1 in preseason poll

The Bishop England High School baseball team begins the new decade the same way it ended the 2010s. The Bishops open the 2020 season perched at No. 1 in the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association’s preseason poll of Class AAA teams.

But veteran BE coach Mike Darnell, whose team has won three straight Class AAA state championships, will tell you the game is played on a diamond, and not on paper or in the polls.

“Preseason No. 1 really is an indication of what your team was like the year before,” Darnell said. “I don’t think it has any bearing on how we prepare for the upcoming season or motivation either way. We are going to prepare the exact same way if we are No. 1 or not ranked.”

The Bishops are used to being on top of the mountain. They won four state championships in the 2010s and posted a 216-95 record to be named the Class AAA team of the decade by diamondprospects.com, a website that ranks the top teams and players in the Palmetto State.

The Bishops own nine state titles overall, which is good enough for a three-way tie for second place on the state’s all-time list, according to the High School League’s record book, “Palmetto’s Finest.” Bamberg-Eharhardt is the state leader with 15 state titles overall.

The Bishops had some big graduation losses including pitcher Geoffrey Gilbert, who was a main cog on the Bishop teams of the last three years and now pitches for Clemson.

“I don’t think you can ever replace a kid like Geoffrey,” Darnell said. “He meant a lot to this program and has already been missed by us during our fall workouts. Geoffrey’s day-in and day-out leadership is going to be as tough to replace as his production on the field. He and Chris Dengler (Old Dominion) were the cornerstones of our team last year. Replacing Chis and Corey Cochran (third base and shortstop) are probably going to be the toughest thing to do from a game to game basis this year. We are going to have to shuffle guys around and basically have an open tryout for shortstop this season.”

But Bishop England always has talent, and this season will be no exception.

The Bishops return four starters from last year including pitcher/first baseman Daniel Brooks, who will play for the College of Charleston. Jarren McCoy returns as catcher, Chase Loggins will be penciled in as a pitcher and outfielder while Dooms Dennis can play either third base or second.

The Bishops also welcome back Adam Salmorin, who closed out the season last year as one of the best pitchers, earning the starting role in two of the three state championship series games.

“There are a bunch of other guys who will be battling for starting spots,” Darnell said. “It should be great competition.”

He added, “Our tradition is based on guys who have put in the work over all of the past years. Those guys before have created a culture of hard work and dedication which has been passed on from year to year.”