Go West, Young Man: Riverside’s Creech planning for future at Oregon

Three-and-a-half years into an incredible tenure at Riverside, there isn’t much that senior pitcher Marion Creech doesn’t have going for him.

He’s an established leader in the dugout, the ace in the Warriors’ rotation, and an upstanding future high school graduate. After he tosses his blue cap-and-gown into the air in a few months, he’ll begin a brand-new adventure over 2,700 miles away.

Creech will pack his bags–likely filled to the brim with baseball equipment and memories from home–and head west, driving cross-country in his bright red Ford Ranger pickup to begin his collegiate baseball career at the University of Oregon.

As a freshman three years ago, however, Creech couldn’t drive at all.

That job belonged to former Riverside star and current Clemson standout Caden Grice.

“Caden was sort of a mentor to me,” Creech said. “He would take me home a lot after games and practices. We’d hang out a good bit outside of baseball or in between games or if we had a doubleheader.”

Much of Creech’s confidence on the mound, he said, comes from what Grice instilled in him during their one year together. He recalled a specific instance.

“I’d pitched a really great game going into the last inning against Eastside when I was a freshman. They hadn’t scored yet. But in the seventh, I loaded the bases with two outs. Coach [Michael] Pettit came from the dugout to talk to me, and so did Caden from the infield. Caden looked at Coach and told him, ‘Don’t take him out. He’s got this. He’s going to get the last out.’ So Coach left me in. The very next pitch… pop-up. Game over.”

Unfortunately for Creech and that Warriors team, they couldn’t finish the rest of their promising season. The Covid-19 pandemic cut Riverside’s year short after just seven games. Grice moved on to Clemson that fall.

Creech hasn’t forgotten that game, though. The 3-0 shutout at Eastside still sticks out as his favorite performance as a Warrior.

“I’ll never forget it,” he said. “They were state champs the year before, and throwing a complete game shutout as a freshman, it felt unbelievable.”
 
FINDING A NEW HOME 

“For Marion, he’s done well figuring things out over the craziness of this year,” said his mother, Andrea Creech. “He had to decide exactly what he wanted to get out of college. It’s hard enough to choose a school just based on the athletic program, but he wanted to go somewhere he could pursue opportunities outside of baseball, too.”

Off the field, Creech’s biggest passion is Sports Marketing. Oregon — the birthplace of Nike — was his match made in heaven.

“Nike being founded there was actually a reason I started looking at Oregon in the first place,” Creech explained. “I mean, sometimes I’ll even catch my dad watching those famous Nike ads on YouTube. We both love their commercials. Their marketing campaigns are incredible, and so I thought, ‘What better place than Oregon for me to start off?’”

“We wanted him to get a good degree in a field that interests him so that when he graduates, he can develop a career,” said Creech’s father, Tom Creech. “That will benefit him long-term, and now he’s got the chance to go to a school with a national reputation where he’ll make friends and meet future contacts from all over the country. It’s a perfect fit.”

As perfect as the fit may be, that doesn’t mean the choice was easy for Creech. He showed interest in a number of different universities, and for many of those schools, the interest was mutual.

Marion Creech celebrates with his family after officially committing to play college baseball for the University of Oregon during Riverside’s recent signing day.

Creech took tours of both Clemson University and the University of South Carolina, but he knew he wanted to go somewhere farther away. Many of his peers would be attending the in-state powerhouses, but Creech’s personal conviction was to branch out. He spoke with and visited multiple Power-Five programs across the country before eventually landing on the University of Oregon.

“When I finally went out to Oregon, I loved everything about it. I loved the campus, loved Coach [Mark Wasikowski], loved the facilities. And the athletic standard there, it’s very high. It felt like where I needed to be, personally. Some people might feel differently, but it felt like the right fit for me.”
 
BLOCKING OUT THE NOISE

It was a chilly, windy Tuesday evening at Blue Ridge High School with Riverside and Blue Ridge knotted up at three runs apiece. An announcer’s booming voice blared through the speakers at the start of the fourth inning.

“Looks like we’ve got a pitching change coming up here,” the voice said. “Marion Creech is coming into the game for Riverside!”

As Creech walked to the mound, both dugouts were animated. In his corner, his teammates cheered and clapped, hyping him up and shouting the “creature” nickname they’d instilled upon him. The moment was big, but time and time again, Creech had proven to his team that they wouldn’t find one too big for him.

From the other dugout, however, Creech heard it, too. Their shouts weren’t quite as friendly.

“I hear it all. Already this year, I’ve heard people from other dugouts yelling at me, telling me I’m not good enough to go to Oregon and things like that. Heard it plenty of times so far this season.”

When Creech is on the mound, however, he said nothing can break his focus. There’s a job he’s trusted to do, and that job is to get outs.

“Once I’m up there, everything else just leaves my mind,” he said. “I don’t really pay attention to what’s going on outside of the game; I kind of zone out. It’s just me, the catcher and the umpire.”

Four innings and six strikeouts later, Creech walked off the mound with the 9-5 win. At the end of the Warriors’ postgame line, he got a firm handshake from Coach Pettit, who’s overseen Creech’s growth at Riverside.

“I remember when this kid came in against Eastside his freshman year and pitched a complete game shutout,” said Pettit, referencing the same game Creech picked as his favorite. “I want to say he gave up only three hits that whole game. I turned to my other coaches as soon as that game ended, and I was like ‘Holy smokes. We may have something here.’”

Pettit has worked with Creech over the last four seasons, helping him figure out what works best for him on the mound.

“One thing about Pettit is that he knows what it’s like and what it takes to win,” Creech said. “He played for Riverside when they were the number-one team in the country.”

Pettit, a 2005 Riverside graduate, was a part of Riverside’s 2003 and 2004 state champion baseball teams.

“Pettit really stresses to me and to the team, ‘Just do your part.’ Not everyone’s going to be the home run hitter, or in my case, not everyone’s going to be throwing 95 miles an hour. Just know your role when you go out there, and you’ll win baseball games.”

Creech’s relationship with Pettit has grown since he arrived at Riverside four years ago.

“We’ve gotten closer over the years,” Creech said. “I’ve always felt like Pettit’s been there in my corner, even for needs outside of baseball, like college and personal things, and as a coach, he’s always given me a chance. Even if my last outing wasn’t great, he trusts me to go out there again the next time and prove myself. He’s always been supportive of me, not just as a baseball coach, but as a friend.”
 
CHASING A DREAM

There’s a lot that Creech is preparing to say goodbye to in his hometown.

He’s an active member at Buncombe Street United Methodist Church in downtown Greenville, serving there since he was a kid. The 18-year-old has two loving parents and two younger sisters, Jane Ann and Celeste.

“I think those two are really going to miss him a lot when he’s gone,” his mother said.

Still, Creech is set on his path, and rightfully so. He’s never been afraid to chase his dreams. There’s little chance that stops anytime soon. His aspirations and hard work have gotten him this far, after all.

“Now, there’s obviously a possibility this won’t happen, and that’s totally fine,” he said, “but I want to be playing Major League Baseball. I’m going to go to Oregon and develop myself from both an academic and baseball standpoint, and hopefully, after that, I’m able to set myself up for an attempt at the MLB.”

It’s clear that Creech, who credits Atlanta Braves left-handed ace Max Fried as his inspiration, has played this scene in his head plenty of times.

“I’ve watched so many baseball games growing up and been to them with my dad,” Creech said. “And honestly, I can’t even imagine the feeling of playing in the MLB one day. I can’t imagine pitching in front of 35- or 40-thousand people in the World Series. It’s a night game and everyone in that stadium is watching you. It would be a dream, and if that opportunity is there for me, that’s what I want to do.”