Jim Fair
Jake Purvis, center, signs a baseball letter-of-intent with Erskine College while his parents, Rodney, left, and Dana, right, and brother, Ridge, observe. Baseball coaches Bob Massullo and Brian Wortkoetter.
A two-sport standout with Greer High School, Purvis was starting catcher for two years and played H back/linebacker for the Class 3A football Yellow Jackets.
“Jake was one of our better pitchers,” Greer head baseball coach Bob Massullo said. “He also happened to be our best catcher.”
Purvis said he would have liked to pitch more but understood his role. “I knew I was needed at catcher more,” he said. “There were times I would have liked to pitch.”
Purvis batted over .300 and threw out about 40 percent of the runners attempting to steal second. “They stopped running on Jake after he was successful early in the season,” Massullo said.
There were times Purvis relieved pitchers, shedding his catcher’s gear for the mound. “That’s probably why my arm never hurt, I was always throwing the ball pitching and catching,” Purvis said.
Purvis will join an Erskine program that is perennially one of the top teams in the Conference Carolinas in the NCAA Division II. Head Coach Kevin Nichols owns the most career wins at the school and has nourished a program that has featured teams annually ranked in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.
At least seven other Erskine players who have played on Greer area high school teams will be on the roster when Purvis reports for his freshman semester – Kyle Foster and Brandon Wooten (Blue Ridge), Brandon Barber, Kyle Von Hoff, Ryan Mason (Eastside), Connor Gibson and Alan Suchy (Riverside).