It’s the weather. That’s about the only explanation Statesville Owls third baseman Robby Scaggs could muster when asked about his surge in offensive productivity.
“The heat’s gotten to me, I guess,” he said with a chuckle. “With the heat going up, I guess I’m getting hotter at the plate. I really don’t know.”
A rising senior at Newberry College, Scaggs has been on a tear.
His 3-for-5 effort Tuesday in Clemson, S.C., during the Owls’ 7-5 win against the Carolina Chaos raised his season batting average to .369, fourth highest in the Southern Collegiate Baseball League. It was his sixth multi-hit game this month. He had only three of those in June.
“I really haven’t changed anything,” Scaggs said. “I guess I’m seeing the ball better now.”
Better? Not good news for tonight’s opponent.
The Owls host a doubleheader against the Asheville Redbirds, with the first game beginning at 5 p.m. Statesville leads the season series 4-0.
Scaggs was 5-for-8 against the Redbirds in a July 1 doubleheader the Owls swept. He is 7-for-12 in three appearances against Asheville pitchers.
With 10 RBIs and 31 hits in 24 games, including seven doubles and a pair of home runs, Scaggs earned a spot in the SCBL All-Star game. He will join Owls teammates Kyle Brandenburg, Bobby Gazzola, Brock Hudgens, Brennan Daniels and Brad Bridgeman, an alternate, on the East squad Sunday at Winthrop University.
Owls coach Frank Pait couldn’t be happier for the 21-year-old.
“He’s been unbelievable,” Pait said of Scaggs, a history/secondary education major. “He’s done a great job. Everything he hits is hard.”
There have yet to be any signature hits in Scaggs’ wooden-bat summer league playing career. The same can’t be said for his high school career at North Augusta (S.C.). With his team trailing by a run in the third inning of the 4A Upper State championship game in May 2007, Scaggs crushed the ball over the fence for a two-out grand slam.
North Augusta held on for a 5-2 victory over White Knoll that thrust it into the state championship series.
“I sat on the first fastball the kid threw me, and it just so happened it hit off the scoreboard,” Scaggs recalled. “It was pretty much a game changer.
“We’ve got the newspaper article (from that game) framed in my house. It was a pretty big deal.”
Scaggs’ junior season at Newberry this spring lacked that same fanfare. He played in 28 of 52 games and batted .162 with nine RBIs.
One of his college coaches recommended he join a summer league. Scaggs’ father submitted the funds so his son could play, and Scaggs signed up to be a member of the Statesville Owls.
“I like it up here,” Scaggs said. “It’s a nice little community. We get a lot of fans at the games. This community takes baseball seriously. I like it.”
Owls fans must like what they’ve seen Scaggs do with the bat.
He’s hoping not to cool off anytime soon.
“Keep laying off balls, swinging at the strikes. Keep putting the ball in play,” Scaggs said. “As long I’m putting the ball in play, things can happen.”
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