CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) –
10. Our countdown starts with a record setting year with the Charleston Battery, Forward Nick Markanich would set a new USL Championship single season record by scoring 28 goals in just 33 games with the Battery this season. He would add another pair in US Open Cup play to finish with 30 goals overall, breaking the team record held by Paul Conway for more than 2 decades.
9. Premier League soccer visiting the Palmetto State comes in at number 9. Back in early August, Williams Brice Stadium was the host as Manchester United and Liverpool. A sell out crowd of more than 77 thousand were on hand for the match, the most ever for a soccer event in the Carolinas. Liverpool would take the exhibition with a 3-0 win
8. The early summer was a big time for local teams to make changes in their baseball programs. In late May, The Citadel parted ways with alum Tony Skole after 7 years with the program, a little over a week later, Charleston Southern let go of Marc MacMillian after 4 seasons and a week after that, South Carolina would fire Mark Kingston after 7 years. The Bulldogs would hire Russell Triplett, CSU would promote Karl Kuhn while the Gamecocks brought in former LSU head coach Paul Maineri
7. The Major league baseball draft was very good to the Lowcountry this year. Summerville alum PJ Morlando was taken in the 1st round back in July with the 16th overall pick by the Miami Marlins. Another former Green Wave star would go in the 3rd round with Gamecocks catcher Cole Messina heading to the Colorado Rockies, his younger brother Carson would forgo a chance to play in Columbia after being taken in the 12th round by the Toronto Blue Jays and Hanahan alum and former College of Charleston pitcher Trey Pooser would hear his name called in the 10th round by the Tampa Bay Rays
6. At 6, Shelby Rogers calls it a career. The Mt. Pleasant native announced in late August that she’d be retiring from professional tennis after more than a decade of playing on the WTA tour. Her final match coming at the US Open against her friend Jessica Pegula. At 32 years old, Rogers won more than 300 matches, was ranked as high as 30th in the world and earned more than 5 million dollars in her career. She was inducted into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame in November.
The Top 5 will be revealed on Christmas Day!
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