Falcon baseball team appeals violation Nation Ford fights allegations against young team who wants to impress

by Connor Fowler, Liam Quinn & Connor Ford

Nation Ford has appealed a decision to penalize the baseball team for what the South Carolina High School League has called a violation of a closed season rule that, if upheld, will result in penalties, including being locked out of a playoff spot. At press time, SCHSL has not yet responded to the appeal.

The SCHSL first informed Principal Chris Chandler and then Coach Jeff Stack on Feb. 8 that the baseball team had committed a tier 3 violation for 12 illegal practices during a “closed season” over the winter. A closed season is a time when student-athletes are not allowed to practice at school facilities or have contact with their coaches.

“The Nation Ford baseball program did not have practices during the closed season,” Chandler said. “An outside organization held clinics with our pitchers in which none of our coaches did any coaching. Coach Stack shared the information about the clinic with our players because it would help the players.

“We don’t believe that we did anything wrong in this situation and that all of our coaches acted in the best interest of the baseball players,” he added.

Several players on the team did pay for and attend clinics to work on pitching with Dynamic Pitching Institute, a private business not associated with the school, and the coaches associated with the clinics are not on NFHS staff. Rule 2 in the SCHSL states that “school facilities may not be used after school hours during closed season by other students of a school except if they are members of an outside team clearly sponsored by an outside agency.”

In addition to being locked out of playoffs, the penalties for a violation means the team would also be suspended for three days with a $500 fine.

The Falcons were supposed to play preseason home games on Saturday, Feb. 18, but could not under the SCHSL restrictions.

“The Nation Ford baseball program did not have practices during the closed season.”

–Principal Chris Chandler

Nation Ford’s appeal, if successful, would put them back in playoff contention. Coach Stack says he’ll stand by his team.

“I will walk side by side with my guys as we navigate through these challenges, and I will always be there for them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Falcons plan to play their region home opener against Clover on March 15 at 6:30 p.m.

After a rough season going 9-21, the Falcons base- ball team wants to get back on track this year.

Nation Ford hired Stack over the summer to take over the baseball program after the departure of Michael Lewis.

Stack, who comes from Sun Valley, had won South Carolina 4A Conference Coach of the year in North Carolina back to back years before he decided to make a switch and move to the Falcons.

The baseball team is young this year with only 10 returning varsity players.

“I think we have a young team that is eager to show what they can do,” Athletic Director David Johnson said. “There is a growing excitement about the upcoming year, and I look forward to watching them compete.”

Going into the season, the Falcons’ region is filled with three top 10 teams in the state. However Nation Ford is nowhere to be found in the rankings. Even with a tough schedule, the Falcons are not worried.

“I don’t think we should worry about what outsiders say,” Coach Johnson says. “If we keep our head down and work hard every day this team has all the tools to compete.”

The Falcons will rely on their offense this year as they will be bringing back their two top hitters, Jacob Pettit (‘25) and Gabe Simmons (‘23).

“Our main strengths going into this year are our offense and team chemistry,” Paul Solari said (‘23).