For most high school athletes, their final game of their senior season marks the end of the road in athletics. Most don’t move on to play their sport collegiately and very few of them get to play professionally or even semi-professionally.

For River Bluff outfielder Thomas Powell, he gets to enjoy his team’s legitimate push for a state title while also having a deal in place to play for the Lexington County Blowfish this summer before beginning his collegiate career at the school he grew up cheering for: the University of South Carolina.

The Blowfish opportunity came up while he was trying to find a place to keep himself fresh going into his freshman season at USC.

“We were just trying to figure out somewhere to play this summer because I didn’t want to go all summer before going to Carolina and not playing,” Powell said. “So I just reached out to a couple of people and we heard back from the Blowfish and they said they can give me a temporary contract. So I was like, I’m gonna go out there and ball out and use that opportunity to grow as a player before I go to Carolina.”

This comes as a huge opportunity for Powell to play amongst other college level athletes and learn a thing or two about the college game before making the jump to play big time SEC baseball as well as provide him an opportunity to develop with a league team that resides in the county that he's from. 

But Powell didn’t get this opportunity just because he got busy making phone calls to prospective teams. His versatility in the outfield and his abilities at the plate as well as the way he stepped up on the mound when River Bluff needed him to prove his abilities as an overall baseball player.

“Offensively, everyone knew Thomas could do that,” River Bluff head coach Mark Bonnette said. “He’s always been a very good hitter and always been a good center fielder. But when our number one pitcher went down earlier in the year, Thomas had to step up. We had to have somebody step up. Thomas is 6-1 on the mound with an ERA of just above one. Without him on the mound, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

Bonnette also gives Powell high praise of being one of the hardest workers he has ever coached and that his dedication to improvement has rubbed off on his teammates. 

“Thomas has always been one of the hardest workers I’ve ever coached. He’s very driven. He’s always a guy that’s gonna be the first one to show up and the last one to leave. He’s always been a three-sport athlete and has always been athletic. But what really separates Thomas and a lot of kids out there is his grit and determination. He wants to be as good as he can be,” Bonnette said.

There’s still some work to be done, however. Powell helped the Gators get one win away from a state title series appearance heading into  May 17, when they host Summerville. 

For Powell, this last week or so of baseball has been sentimental and he’s soaking in as much as he can to enjoy this last championship push with a group of guys that he feels is as tight-knit as any team in baseball. 

It’s the thing he says he’ll miss the most about the high school baseball experience. Hanging out with his teammates, having Walker Mitchell around to be the team comic relief and all the fun they have had over the last four years are things that he’ll always remember this experience by. It’s also the element of this team that gives him the most confidence that they can win a state title.

“I think about it all the time,” Powell says. “Me and my dad were talking about how this has been one of the best groups. We’re all best friends. I would do anything for these guys. As far as making this run, one of my favorite stories in the Bible is David and Goliath. One of the things David did preparing for that battle was having the confidence with everything he had done before and leading up to that moment. So I just told our guys, ‘Look, we’ve done so much together, we’ve grown together, we’ve gelled together, we’ve overcome more adversity than a lot of people’ and we’re gonna play with that confidence.”

Once the season does reach its conclusion and Powell starts his season with the Blowfish, Bonnette says that fans of the team and fans of South Carolina baseball will be excited to see the extra effort that he brings to the table on a daily basis.

“They’re gonna get a kid who will leave it all out on the field,” Bonnette said. “In baseball, when you call a kid a dirtbag, that’s a compliment. He’s that dirtbag kind of player that, at the end of the night, his uniform will be as dirty as anybody’s and you’re gonna get a kid who will give you everything he’s got every night. He’s just fun to watch.”

Powell is in a unique position to achieve two dreams in one year. One of these, he can achieve with a state championship. The other, he already achieved when he committed to play baseball at his dream school.

“It’s a dream come true,” Powell said. “I will be living out a dream. I mean, I got a picture from the year they won the national championship in 2010. I was there at the state house with Adam Matthews and got my hand on the trophy. It’s a dream come true. It’s unreal, the feeling I get every time I think about it. I remember the day I committed, sitting with my mom and dad crying as soon as we got off the phone with Coach Kingston, talking about how this dream I’ve been dreaming since I was little was about to come true.”