(Photo by Thomas Grant Jr.)
By Thomas Grant Jr.
A .500 record in the ultracompetitive Region 4-5A (now Region 3-5A) and a first-round Class 5A Division II playoff series win highlighted White Knoll baseball’s best season in 10 years.
With the departure of Dolan Crolley to Blythewood High School, school athletics director Shane Fidler sought a replacement to maintain the program’s momentum.
He quickly found a name with past success in Lexington County who perfect fit the profile.
On Wednesday, Tim Perry was introduced as the new Timberwolves’ head coach. He spoke for about 30 minutes with the returning players about his expectations and the path to finding the championship success that he eluded the program since 2010.
“The bare bones are there,” he said. “Dolan did a great job with these guys last year. (They went) 5-5 last year in the region and I think return almost every player. So, I’m excited about having those guys back, getting the opportunity to work with them and just continue to take steps forward.”
This marks Perry’s return to high school baseball after seven years serving as an assistant at the college level. He spent last year as a recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at Winthrop.
Prior to that, Perry spent six seasons at Coastal Carolina as the director of player development and analytics first under Gary Gilmore and then new University of South Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall.
He arrived at Conway following a successful stint at Airport High School. In 10 seasons, Perry was 165-95-2, won four region titles and led the Eagles to state runner-up appearances in 2013 and 2018.
As the former athletics director at Airport, Fidler was very cognizant of Perry’s credentials. After interviewing him, Fidler “quickly” realized the two parties were a “perfect match”.
“You obviously can’t doubt his resume,” he said. “His resume is unbelievable. I don’t think anyone can question the places he’s been and what he’s accomplished. When he got to Airport and took them to two state championship series and obviously being around high-level baseball talent at Coastal and Winthrop and first-round draft picks, he recruited those guys and that says a lot about his idea to identify talent and develop it.
“Here at White Knoll, we have talent and we just need to develop it. So, bringing Coach Perry in here who knows how to run a high school baseball program successfully, especially in this area of our state and him being able to develop players at a high level I think it’s perfect for our program.”
Perry arrives at a time when Chapin became the fourth region team since 2019 to win a state title. While Fidler believes this change puts White Knoll back in the championship hunt, Perry knows it will take several factors for that to happen.
It’s especially with state championship coaches like his former college roommate Mark Bonnette at River Bluff, Brian Hucks at Lexington and now Dell Lever at Chapin.
“On the mound, you’ve got to be able to throw a lot of strikes,” he said. “Defensively, you have to be able to play and defend at a high level. You to limit free bases on defense, while at the same time, you have to be able to create offense.
“You have to be able to take advantage of your free bases and win the free base wall against other teams. And if you’re able to do that, I think good things can happen.”
