Clover High School pitcher is a USC commit who’s driven by ‘chip on his shoulder’
Clover’s No. 1 pitcher Cade Pilgrim said he plays angry, and that gets positive results.
As of May 1, the 5-foot-10 junior went 8-0 over nine regular season starts. He has an earned run average of 0.71. He has allowed an opponent batting average of .146 and has 70 strikeouts.
The Clover baseball team (18-7, 10-5) finished second in region play. They lost Tuesday in their opening round of the state playoffs, 6-2 to Dorman. Pilgrim started for Clover, going 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and striking out 10 batters.
The Blue Eagles will now face Mauldin on May 4 in another home game of the double-elimination playoffs.
“This season has been really good,” Pilgrim said recently. “I’m pitching very well. I got a great defense behind me that’s always helped me out. Offense always helps out, comes through in the clutch moments. It’s just been good so far.”
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Pilgrim, who also plays on Clover’s football team.
He and his older brother Cole have been raised primarily by his mother Rachal.
Cade said not having a consistent paternal presence early in his life gave him a chip on his shoulder that pushes him to compete, whether it’s on a baseball diamond or a football field.
“I feel like I got a lot to prove,” Cade said. “Football is way easier to wear that chip on my shoulder because you can talk on the football field, you can hit somebody, you can do all that.
“Baseball is a little different. You got to keep your composure, but that’s why I say I like to pitch because if I’m mad, I just throw the ball as hard as I can.”
Cade has used the extra motivation to intensify his dedication to sports.
“It is his way of staying focused or keeping that tunnel vision, trying not take his eye of the prize,” his mother said. “The way that I’ve watched him over the years develop and the older these kids get and how competitive they are, I think that is a skill that, with every person in life, you have to develop. To block out that outside noise.
“I know for Cade, he carries himself that way so that he is able to stay focused on what his goal is when he’s out there in any sport he’s competing in.”
A father figure
Cade does point to one person as a father figure in his life: former NFL defensive back Sheldon Brown.
Brown runs the Team 24 Gamecocks, a travel baseball team based in Lake Wylie, which Pilgrim also plays for. Brown also runs the T24 Fitness Center where Pilgrim trains during his off time.
Ever since Cade moved to South Carolina from Michigan in 2018, Brown has helped Cade both in baseball and in life. Brown also is the father of Dion Brown, Clover’s closing pitcher and Pilgrim’s closest friend.
“When we first moved down here, it was kind of a connection thing,” Pilgrim said. “I knew (Sheldon) had a travel baseball program, so we hit him up. And from then on, me and his son Dion became best friends.
“We’ve got this brother bond. It’s only my mom, and she has to work. So over the summers, when she’s working, she doesn’t have to worry about anything. I ride with him to all my games. He pays for my food. He’s just like what a father figure would be.”
Rachal said she appreciates everything that Brown has done.
“From the moment I met Sheldon, he said to me, ‘if you can’t go, that’s OK, I’ll take any of my players’,” she said. “’Whether it’s a local tournament or somewhere that’s a commute a few hours away or out-of-state.’ And to hear that when I first moved here, it felt surreal to me because the stress and pressure that I experienced in Michigan not only financially but just being able to have the time and the ability to travel. It was extremely difficult. I was comforted and felt instant peace with (the Browns). I trust them with my son. They love him as if he were their own.”
Brown has seen up close Cade’s progression in baseball over the past five years. He said he knows how hard Cade works and is not surprised by the amount of success he’s had.
“He’s always been undersized,” Brown said. “Gritty kid, big heart. Plays hard. Does all the little things. Call him a grinder. He competes in practice, he competes in the games and he competes in life. That’s been since the first time I met him.”
Brown said Pilgrim’s upbringing played a huge part in his competitiveness.
“You’re talking about a kid who’s being raised (primarily by his mom),” Brown said. “His older brother graduated early, moved out and went back to Michigan. Now he’s the man of the household. So he had to grow up early and grow up quick. And there are no excuses, you got to find a way to get it done. And that’s his mentality.
Pilgrim’s approach to the game is a benefit to any program.
Clover’s head baseball coach Hank Wofford said Pilgrim’s mix of attention to detail and competitive edge also pushes his teammates.
“That type of passion is contagious,” Wofford said. “You can see that as a coach. Cade is one of the guys at the top of our list in our program that hates to lose. He really hates it. And I think guys feed off that. You see the preparation that he puts in and that carries over.”
That type of passion also drew the eyes of some elite college baseball programs. Programs like the top-ranked University of South Carolina, where Pilgrim committed this past summer.
“Over the summer at the last couple of tournaments was when I started getting my first looks,” Pilgrim said. “So I was getting looked at by Virginia and schools like that. Since I moved down here, USC was just something that I looked into. Like I would’ve just loved to play for the Gamecocks. Money came in to be a big factor. Out-of-state tuition is extremely expensive, and in baseball, you don’t get full ride scholarships. Money was a big thing, so when USC offered me, the money was right, the coaching staff was amazing, and it just felt like home.”
Pilgrim said he understands how much work it takes to get where he wants, and he won’t shy away from it.
“None of the stuff I’ve received, my commitment and stats, were given to me,” he said. “I work day in and day out for this. Sheldon has the Team24 facility open 24 hours. We’re up there at two in the morning working. That’s my biggest thing. Nothing that I do is ever given to me. I’ve earned every single thing that I’ve gotten.”
