Former South Carolina baseball star sets an all-time team record

Rumors swirled this winter that South Carolina baseball legend Jackie Bradley, Jr. was retiring from professional baseball. The rumors were strong enough that national writer John Heyman even reported that the outfielder was "expected to retire." The 2010 and 2011 College World Series champion denied the rumors and has been working to get back into Major League Baseball since then.

Though he hasn't been on an MLB roster this summer, Bradley, Jr. has been playing with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, and he has been performing extremely well.

With the Ducks, Bradley, Jr. is hitting for an impressive slash line of .389/.464/.726/1.190. He has smacked 12 home runs, 13 doubles, and 2 triples while driving in 33 RBI and scoring 34 runs, and he has played a good center field for Long Island.

On Friday, though, the former Gamecock made history. Beginning on May 9th, Bradley, Jr. began a hitting streak, and on July 19th, that hit streak grew to 26 games with a home run over the right field wall. That marks a new all-time record for the Long Island Ducks (besting the 26-game hit streak from Mel Stocker in 2006), and it is the 8th-longest hit streak in the history of the Atlantic League. He is one away from being tied for the 4th-longest streak ever, and he is nearing the top mark.

Jose Ruiz (2013) and Chris Ashby (2008) are tied at the top of the all-time leaderboard as both players managed 31-game hit streaks in their Atlantic League careers.

The next rung on the ladder for Jackie Bradley, Jr. will be climbable on Saturday as the Long Island Ducks play against the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars. If the hit streak continues, he will have the chance to tie the record next Thursday and surpass it next Friday.

Bradley, Jr. is just under the 10-year threshold in his Major League Baseball career, but perhaps his strong showing in the Atlantic League can help him catch on one more time to get him past that mark.