Hilton Head Monthly Magazine

Former Major Leaguer sets Sand Sharks’ formula for success

Most sports programs, whether they be high school, college or professional, would be thrilled to win a game or two in their first year of competitive play. Win a game in the inaugural year, and look forward to perhaps a couple more in the second and third years of existence.

Not the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Sand Sharks baseball team.

As of Monday, March 16, the Sun Conference team was on a 10-game winning streak and held a conference record of 9-6 and fourth place in the conference.

The Sand Sharks want to preserve their spot in the top six to earn a spot in the conference tournament in May. Overall, the team’s record as of March 16 was 22-10.

“We are off to a very good start, but we still have not accomplished our goal of getting into the Sun Conference playoffs,” said Rick Sofield, head baseball coach and assistant athletic director for USCB. “And, we have not won a National Championship yet. We have accomplished much, but we have not achieved anything yet.” Guess you could say that Sofield doesn’t settle for a win here and a win there, even in this baseball team’s first year of competition.

“Our No. 1 goal was to teach everyone how to work, how to prepare, how to care about one another, and so far we are heading in the right direction,” he said. Athletic Director Kim Abbott sang praises for the young Sand Sharks baseballers.

“Nothing has been easy about this first season,” she said. “From the very first recruit last year to our (latest) game, we celebrate the wins, but also face daily challenges which come with a first-year program and a very young university. The wins have been the cherry on top this year. The wins are a credit to the very hard work of the team and coaches. Coach Sofield has done a tremendous job.”

Sofield was a deep centerfield, against-thewall catch for USCB. As assistant baseball coach for the University of South Carolina from 1983 to 1986, he contributed to the Gamecocks winning four regional tournaments and a College World Series. He left USC to become head baseball coach at the University of Utah from 1987 to 1994. After graduating from USC, Sofield played three years of Major League Baseball with the Minnesota Twins, who made him a first-round draft pick in 1975.

Over the past 12 years, he has worked as the minor league field coordinator with the New York Yankees, as a AA manager in the Colorado Rockies system, and as a minor league field coordinator with the Montreal Expos, the L.A. Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He is a sought-after motivational speaker and serves as a special adviser to the Baseball Factory, an elite scouting and player development company — both of which may explain at least partially, the Sand Sharks’ success.

“We have been very blessed to have learned that the harder we work, the more positive we stay, (and) the more we believe in the work we do, when it becomes game time, good things happen,” Sofield said.

“We ... have recruited and attracted good players that work in practice at game speed, we have a solid plan on and off the field, and we have an administration and community that support us beyond belief,” he said. “That’s a formula for success.”

Spell that success, h-o-m-e-r-u-n.