Sumter High's Love shoves against No. 1 Blythewood on way to Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

The Sumter High baseball team knew there was plenty at stake when they faced the state's top-ranked team, Blythewood, in region action last week.

Sure, they wanted a pair of region wins heading into spring break, but they also wanted to prove that they can compete with the best in the state.

Thanks in part to Morgan Love, they succeeded with flying colors.

Love earned saves in each of the Gamecock victories and sparked their offense with a massive three-run blast in the second game of their series during a 2-0 week. The SHS third baseman and reliever earned Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week honors in the process.

"It feels amazing," Love said of the recognition. "I had a lot of support from my teammates and coaches and especially my parents."

Love and his teammates were locked in from the word "go" last week as they fought to prove their ability to play with the best of the best.

"I feel like we had a really good week of practice going into it. We had that Sunday practice, and I could tell the guys had a different mindset," Love said. "We just had the mindset that we didn't have anything to lose because the odds were against us with the rankings. At the end of the day, we strongly feel that the ranking is just a number. We just had the mindset that we had nothing to lose, and that was on our side."

Sumter High head coach Will McMillan was thrilled to see Love put all the pieces together against Blythewood. Love's role has changed over the years from splitting time at catcher to moving into the infield. He wasn't asked to pitch much prior to this spring, but Love has embraced his role as a reliever, which turned into two saves against the top team in South Carolina.

"He's worked really hard," McMillan said of his third baseman and reliever. "He and Coach (Andrew) Twitty have tinkered with some things, arm slot and different stuff in the bullpen, and it's really paying off for him.

"He just has confidence. He never gets rattled; he's always even-keeled."

Love's success on the mound this season came after a shift in mentality. He's taken the opportunity and run with it all spring.

"Coach McMillan told me I was going to pitch a little bit more this season, and that made me take my bullpens a lot more seriously," Love said. "I've always wanted the ball, and it felt good getting up there and competing. We have an amazing pitching coach, Coach Twitty. His pitch-calling and everything he does, he does to the best of his abilities, and that's helped out a lot."

In the first game of the series, Love entered with a 4-1 lead. He scored two of those runs to help the offense and took the ball in the seventh looking to finish the job. Marion Davis gave the Gamecocks a great start, holding Blythewood to one run on just two hits, before Joseph Chapman tossed a shutout inning. After watching his teammates allow a combined three hits in the first six innings, Love was confident he could put the game to bed.

"Those two guys really stepped up," Love said. "We looked forward to getting a good start from Marion, and having Chap come in there and give us a strong outing, the confidence was going through the roof out there."

Before Love came in to close their second win of the week, he provided some much-needed offense. He stepped up to the plate trailing 1-0 with two runners on and two outs and launched the first pitch he saw over the fence in left.

"I had a lot of confidence," Love said. "I knew I didn't have much to lose, and that was a reflection of hard work paying off. I stuck to my approach and the ball leaked in, and I just put a good swing on it."

Confidence has been key for Love during a great spring at the plate. He finished the week with four hits and a walk in eight plate appearances, all of which proved crucial in an intense week on the diamond.

"Just walking up there, I tell myself I'm 10 feet tall and bulletproof," he said. "It reminds me that there's no reason to be scared. I feel like I worked really hard this offseason, and I just stick to my approach of hitting middle-back side, and if it leaks in, make them pay. Luckily on Thursday, the odds were in my favor, and it happened."

With a batter like Love in the middle of the lineup, McMillan can be confident his Gamecocks will be able to scratch enough runs across to come away with wins.

"We've got a couple guys at there at the top of our lineup that have been consistent all year, and he's one of them," McMillan said. "They've bought into the approach and what we've been trying to work on. Numbers don't lie. He's really continued to work. He's a hard worker, and he's competitive and wants to help the team in any way he can. He's been a team guy. He gets the three-run home run, but he's also been the guy that lays down a safety squeeze this year. He's going to do whatever he needs to do to help the team win."

Sumter High added three more runs an inning later in the fourth, which proved to be critical. Love came in for the save with a 6-3 lead and ran into a little trouble. After getting two quick outs, an infield single put runners on the corners. Love intentionally walked Amare Counts to load the bases. A single by Sergio Melendez brought the Bengals within a run, but Love induced a ground ball to get out of Blythewood with a win.

"It definitely got a little rocky there in the last inning," Love admitted. "I had a little mental mistake not getting over to first on the ground ball to Chap at first, but I took responsibility for that and stepped on the mound wanting to compete. Luckily it worked out in our favor."

Love and the Gamecocks only have four games left on their regular season slate. Sumter High had a rocky spring break in a tournament at Cheraw, dropping two games on Monday before a 12-2 win over North Central on Tuesday. They'll face Westwood for a two-game set this week before finishing the regular season with four games in five days the following week. They plan on heading into the playoffs on the right foot.

"This week was filled with highs and lows, but I felt like on Tuesday, we did a good job of bouncing back from Monday," Love said. "It takes a good team to bounce back, but we're going to work hard, and I feel like the confidence will be there going into next week."