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Reese's Pieces

Heard a bunch of folks say that they like what Mets first-round pick (the non-Glavine compensation one) Reese Havens brings to the table, describing him as a "real baseball player."

We like him because of his walk-offs.

During his collegiate career at South Carolina, Havens had four walk-off RBI, three in 2008. Two were of great significance, and there's a neat coincidence attached to one of them.

Havens is going from one team with a ballpark-closing scenario to another (though who knows if he's familiar with Shea Stadium's final campaign). The Gamecocks closed out their 29-year-old ballpark, Sarge Frye Field, on May 17. The game against Tennessee was significant, since the winner would get a spot in the SEC Tournament. What better way to close it out with a walk-off?

And Havens did. With the score tied, 8-8 after a three-run Vols rally in the vistiors ninth, South Carolina pulled out the win. With a man on second and one out, Havens hit a 2-2 pitch over the right center field fence for a walk-off home run, and the ensuing, emotional scene was described as a "wild frenzy."

Two weeks later, Havens would come through again, this time to keep South Carolina's season temporarily afloat in the NCAA Regionals. With the score even, 5-5 in the last of the ninth inning, this time Havens crushed a 3-2 pitch for a game-winning home run.

I know I said that I'd be granting honorary "Favorite Met" status to the two players selected as compensation for losing Tom Glavine to the Braves, but perhaps I should amend that to include this guy as well. He seems to be a perfect fit for the theme of this site.

Special thanks to South Carolina baseball SID Andrew Kitick for his quick assistance regarding this information.

True Metvens know...The only South Carolina baseball alum to previously get a walk-off hit for the Mets is Mookie Wilson. Mookie's walk-off hits were both home runs, one off Bruce Sutter against the Cardinals on September 20, 1981, and the other against Braves southpaw Ken Dayley on July 26, 1983, though he's much more noted for his ground ball through Bill Buckner's legs in the 10th inning of Game 6 of the World Series.

As we also mentioned the other day, Mookie holds the Mets "record" for most walk-off runs scored, having scored the winning run in 12 walk-off wins.

South Carolina's other baseball alum to play for the Mets is Ed Lynch, who had five walk-off wins among his 38 Mets victories.

Comments

adam20ss said…
This is a very interesting site, and I've enjoyed reading it so far.

Just wanted to comment that the plural of "RBI" is "RBIs," even though it stands for runs batted in.

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