St. Joseph Catholic School senior Simar Thomas, the Planters Bank Player of the Week, has always had a passion for baseball.
While other kids in his neighborhood were consumed with either basketball or football, baseball was Simar’s one and only sport.
Simar began playing baseball when he was seven. He became a pitcher as soon as he could.
“I have this love for baseball because of my father (Sim),” Simar said. “Because he loved baseball so much, I loved it too. I wear No. 17 because that is the number that he wore when he played.”
As Simar grew older, his love of baseball increased even more. He spent a lot of his youth reading baseball books and watching instructional videos.
This season Simar is a senior on the Irish baseball team, and he is already starting to hit his stride.
Simar’s pitching has helped the Irish jump out to a 5-1 overall record this season. They are also 2-0 in district 4-2A.
Last Friday, Simar’s pitching talent was on display in his team’s 12-2 victory over Greenville Christian. Simar picked up a complete-game two hitter against the Saints and allowed only one run, while striking out two.
This season Simar and the rest of the Irish are under the direction of new head coach Jason Taylor who has more than a quarter century of experience coaching high school level baseball.
Taylor, a Louisiana native, said he has been been extremely impressed with the young man.
“Simar is always the first one here, and the last one to leave,” Coach Taylor said. “What makes him special is that he is also a great student as well as a great baseball player. He has a great point average that is greater than 4.0”
Simar is just one of a number of hungry Irish players eager to show that St. Joseph is not just a basketball and football school.
Simar and fellow St. Joe pitcher Carson Graham make up a formidable pitching duo for St. Joseph.
Simar’s victory over Greenville Christian Friday was the second game of a double header against the Saints. Before Simar took the mound, Graham pitched St. Joe to an 8-3 victory. Graham struck out ten batters in his complete-game two-hit victory.
In the first win over GCS, Greg Fore, Jordan Jennings and Simar each collected two hits each. Jennings and AJ McCloud both had two RBI.
In the second game, Greg Fore had two hits and AJ McCloud connected on a two-run inside-the-park home run.
“The start of the season has been great,” said Simar. “We have very good new coach who is very passionate about what he does.”
