The Wofford Baseball Class of 2022 is one that will be always remembered for their accomplishments on the field. The group of nine joined the team in three different years and came from seven different states but came together to win more games than ever before in the history of the program.
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The class began to take shape in the fall of 2017, when
Lawson Hill and
Clay Schwaner arrived on campus. In the spring of 2018 they were part of a team that won 36 games, including 15 in the Southern Conference. Schwaner made 12 starts on the mound that season, while Hill played in 47 games and earned a spot on the SoCon All-Freshman Team.
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The next season,
Matty Brown,
John Dempsey,
Brennen Dorighi and
Nolen Hester joined the Terriers. They immediately made an impact as the squad put together a second straight season with 36 wins. Brown and Dempsey were named to the SoCon All-Freshman Team, while Dempsey was also second team All-SoCon. They were 14-9 in league play. In the 2019 Southern Conference Tournament, they reached championship Sunday for just the second time in school history.
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For the 2020 season, three junior college reinforcements were brought on board.
Dom Agron,
Dalton Rhadans and
Josh Vitus were all pitchers that immediately solidified the bullpen. During the January interim, the team took part in a class that spent ten days in Spain highlighted by visits to Madrid and Barcelona. Upon returning to the field, they got off to a fast start with a 7-1 record. The added seven more wins, with a 4-3 victory over #14 Auburn on March 11. A couple of days later, the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season. The team had a 14-3 record with the .823 winning percentage the best in school history when ten or more games were played in a season.
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In 2021, the Terriers clinched the 2021 Southern Conference regular season title with a shutout win in the final game of the season. It was the first regular season title for Wofford since joining the league in 1998 and the first time with the #1 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament. Wofford had a 36-21 overall record and a 21-9 mark in the SoCon, with only one league series loss on the season. Wofford was also receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches poll for the first time in school history.
Dalton Rhadans earned All-Southern Conference first team honors, while classmates
Nolen Hester and
Lawson Hill picked up second team honors.
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In the 2022 season, the team got off to a 2-5 start before they started stacking up the wins. After sweeping their first two SoCon series they were 27-9 and had the first top 25-ranking in school history. At the end of the regular season, the Terriers were 40-14-1 overall and 16-4-1 in league play. The team won the just the second regular season Southern Conference championship in school history. The postseason honors rolled in for the senior class, including
Lawson Hill being named SoCon Player of the Year by the media. Hill,
John Dempsey and
Brennen Dorighi were All-SoCon first team selections, while
Dalton Rhadans and
Josh Vitus were second team picks. Wofford reached the SoCon Tournament title game for the third time. With 42 overall wins, it marked the most in school history and the winning percentage of .720 was the best since 1991.
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While the team was one of the first four out on Selection Sunday, this group of nine seniors will never be out of the history books at Wofford. They will be remembered for 164 wins, two Southern Conference Regular Season Championships, over 750 career combined hits, nearly 300 career strikeouts on the mound and a lifetime of memories made. True to the Wofford College alma mater, they conquered and prevailed.