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OPTERRA SOLUTIONS INVITATIONAL Scout Blogs

March 4, 2024
PBR Staff
PBR of SC

The Opterra Solutions Invitational provided some of the top teams and talent from around the state.  PBR was on hand to watch these great teams and players over the course of the weekend. 

As this 8 team tournament started on Thursday and ran through Sunday with Lexington bringing home the title in a very exciting game. 

 Below are are notes and videos of some standouts from each team in the tournament.  

OPTERRA SOLUTIONS INVITATIONAL

Hunter Phipps 2024 RHP Dutch Fork, College of Charleston Commit

Phipps opening outing of the season was an impressive start for Dutch Fork in game 1 of the Opterra Solutions Invitational.  The former Future Gamer from 2022 and College of Charleston signee pitched in the low 90’s in the 1st inning including topping out at 92 with the fastball.  He pitched at 86-88 the rest of the way and mixed in a good slider at 79-81.  


Jachin Davis 2026 RHP Stratford

Davis squared off against Phipps in game 1 of the tournament in what turned out to be a very good pitchers duel for about 4 innings.  Davis topped out at 84 and pitched most of his day in the low 80’s.  He mixed in a slider in the mid-70’s and did a good job changing speeds and locating.  He should win a lot of games for Stratford in the coming years.  


Carson Bolemon 2026 LHP Southside Christian, Wake Forest Commit

The Wake Forest commit got his first in over a year coming back from Tommy John.  He faced off against Wren in what turned out to be a very good matchup.  He appears to have added some muscle as the frame has filled out.  He only got a few innings of work but was as impressive as ever with a fastball at 88-90, a slider at 76-79, and a changeup at 79.  I would expect him to be dominant again for the Sabres just like he was as an 8th grader.  


Tyler Bolemon 2025 C Southside Christian

Tyler had a solid day behind and at the plate for Southside Christian on Thursday.  The left-handed hitting Catcher squared up multiple balls early in the game including driving in a run that gave the Sabres an early lead.  He does a good job receiving and managing a very good pitching staff and has a strong arm behind the plate.  


Evan Allen 2024 RHP/INF Wren 

Allen is a big kid that can do a lot of things for the Hurricanes.  He has a good swing at the plate and the ball jumps off his bat.  He found the barrel multiple times on Thursday against some tough arms from Southside Christian.  He had a huge go ahead RBI late in the game that ended up being the difference in the game.  Allen is a veteran player that will help Wren win plenty of games this year.

Macon Leppert 2025 C Blythewood

Leppert is an intriguing player for the Bengals.  We saw him last year in the spring break tournament at Blythewood and he was solid behind the plate.  He appears to have turned the corner offensively as well.  He faced some very tough arms from West Ashley on Thursday and put together some solid at-bats.  He has plenty of power from the left side of the plate as he had an RBI 2B to the right-center gap in a comeback effort that came up short.  Impressive player that will be fun to follow this year and next.  

Matty Brown 2024 LHP West Ashley, North Greenville Commit

Brown was a very fun pitcher to watch in game 3 on Thursday.  The North Greenville signee worked through some trouble early on and eventually settled in and started cruising through a very good lineup.  The Senior left-hander was 86-88 and sat there for much of the game as well as showcasing a very good curveball in the low 70’s.  He did a good job of throwing it for strikes as well as getting swings and misses.  He should have a big year for West Ashley before moving on to the Crusaders. 


Zach Russell 2024 RHP/INF West Ashley, South Carolina Carolina

Russell is one of the more athletic arms in the state.  Got the start against a tough Lexington lineup who did a good job battling against him.  The right hander has a quick athletic ¾ arm slot and his fast is 88-90 while touching 91 mph on the day.  FB has some arm side run to while showing some sink to it while down in the zone.  Slide is hard with more horizontal break to it while sitting 80-84 mph.  The pitch got better the more he threw it in his outing.  On this day his change up was his best off speed pitch.  Showed great sinking action at 80-82 mph with good arm speed.  Tons of projection in his frame will be a fun one to follow over the years.

 


Ben McMillan 2024 RHP/1B West Ashley, Charleston Southern Commit

The Charleston Southern signee had a very productive evening on Thursday for the Wildcats.  In their first game of the day, he swung the bat well including a 2B and hitting another ball hard.  In the night game against River Bluff he got the start on the mound and threw the ball very well against a talented lineup.  He was in the mid-80’s most of the night topping out at 85 with a slider in the low 70’s.  He is going to be a big contributor and could really West Ashley make a deep run into the playoffs this season.  


Palmer Hornick, 2026, SS, Dorman

Consistent player that always plays the game at a high level when we see him play.  Shows good defensive actions in the infield along with range and arm strength to play short at a high level.  In the batters the box always seems to give quality at bat to go with a short quick athletic swing.  On this day he did it 3 times.  In his first AB drew a BB then followed it up with a hard hit line drive single and then in his third at bat some tough luck with a hard hit line drive the shortstop made a diving play for a force out on, for a fielder's choice.  A baseball player that plays the game hard and the right way!!

 

Connor Wells, 2027, LHP, Dorman

The top player in the state in his state and one of the top players in the country and he showed why again in his brief outing.  This tall lanky uber projectable frame shows why it is so easy to dream on but also has the present stuff.  This tall left header throws from a ¾ arm slot while getting good arm side run on his fastball and sitting 83-87 mph.  His breaking ball shows good depth and break to it and showed he can throw for strikes as well as use it for a put away pitch, CB was 75-76 mph.  Will only continue to improve the more and more he pitches.  The skys the limit for this young man! 

Jackson Burton, 2024, RHP, Lexington

Burton is a fun one to watch pitch and compete.  Really does a great job of keeping hitters off balanced and attacking them.  Going after a very talented West Ashley lineup, they had no idea what was coming.  At any time and any count he could throw any pitch for strikes.  3 pitch mix with a fastball, slider, and change up, with all being very good pitches.  Was able to move his FB around the zone for strikes while it sat 83-85 mph.  Breaking ball was a very late breaking pitch while at 74-76 with good depth to it.  Change up had impressive sink and fading action while being thrown from FB arm speed at 80-82 mph.  Impressive day on the mound, but its also something we have seen him do a lot of.  Going to be a great pick up for some college!!

 


Maddux Medeiros, 2027, 3B, Brookland-Cayce

Young player for the Bearcats that holds down the hot corner.  Going to be one of the staples in this lineup for some time to come showed off his ability to handle the bat.  Showed off a short quick swing with some pop while taking a fastball that was running in on his hands and driving in down the left field line for a double.  Showed good balance in the box and a flat stroke with good plate coverage.