Harding Dennis never really had a chance.
Savannah Christian’s standout senior left-hander was on the mound to open the fourth inning against visiting Prince Avenue Christian on February 21. The starter had a no-hitter going with seven strikeouts, but this early in the season, four innings would be his limit.
Dennis didn’t make it past the first batter.
Prince Avenue Christian’s Brice Williamson, a 6-foot-3, 230-pounder who plays tight end for the Wolverines’ powerhouse football program, had a bat in his hands. He laced a line-drive comebacker at Dennis’ head.
PHOTO: Savannah Christian senior Harding Dennis delivers a pitch during the Feb. 21 game against Prince Avenue Christian — moments before a line drive struck him in the face. Photo by Aimee Kelly, Raiders team photographer.
“I didn’t really see it,” recalled Dennis, 17. “I don’t think I reacted fast enough, obviously.”
The baseball caught him by his nose and mouth, knocking him face down to the ground.
Dennis was quickly surrounded by teammates, coaches from both teams, and others. David Kelly, the Raiders’ first base coach, and Dennis’ stepfather said they rolled him over to see his face.
“Blood was pouring out of his nose and his mouth, and he said, ‘I ate that one, didn’t I?’ ” Kelly recalled. “The Prince Avenue coach is shaking his head.
“We get him stood up, and he says, ‘Did we at least get the out?’
“The Prince Avenue coach just sort of chuckles and goes, ‘Man, you’re my new hero.’ He said, ‘That joker right there is tougher than nails.’ ”
The ball had rolled to third base, and there was no throw, giving Williamson an infield single and the lone hit off Dennis. His mother, Aimee Kelly, also the team’s photographer, took him to the emergency room in his blood-stained uniform.
“I guess it’s all right,” Dennis said Saturday of allowing a hit and missing out on an unorthodox assist of a potential 1-5-3 groundout in the Raiders’ 3-0 victory.
Dennis, however, was not all right physically.
“I ended up having seven fractured bones in my face,” he said. “I know that my nose was only a couple of millimeters displaced. So there’s nothing big enough to need surgery to fix any of it.
“Where it hit me in the lip, it took off skin. So there was a little bit of a mark there as well.”
Dennis said he didn’t feel that bad and was able to make a couple of jokes despite his circumstances. He had been through it before, breaking his nose and cheekbone at a tryout in the sixth grade when a thrown baseball ticked off a coach’s glove and caught him flush in the nose – leading to an emergency room visit.
He’s endured other injuries, getting hit by a pitch that fractured the side of his left foot last season and breaking both ankles playing basketball. He stopped playing hoops after his freshman year to focus on baseball.
“I’ve definitely been dealing with stuff like that for a little bit,” Dennis said. “I wouldn’t say I’m used to it. It’s definitely easier to deal with over the years. I would say I have a pretty high threshold (for pain).”
Hitting the books
Dennis is a high-achieving student-athlete. A member of the National Honor 
Society, he has made high honor roll for a grade-point average of 3.50 or better with nothing below an A in a grading period.
His overall grade-point average is at 4.0 or better, said Dennis, who is dual enrolled at SCPS and takes college-level classes from Valdosta State and Point University in macro economics, pre-calculus and English composition.
Dennis is such a dedicated student that after being injured on a Friday and spending hours at the hospital, he completed his homework on Sunday.
Photo: Morris & Co Photography
“I wasn’t raised to make too many excuses. I was raised to go out there and do it,” said Dennis, who is adopted and whose unusual first name, Harding, was his father’s and grandfather’s middle name.
Kelly, a baseball coach since 1989 with six seasons at SCPS, said he was proud of his stepson’s determination to attend classes.
“I looked pretty abnormal,” Dennis said of his swollen face. “But I didn’t want to miss school, especially if I was going to have surgery, which, thankfully, I didn’t.”
It wasn’t without difficulty, however, in those first days back. Dennis said it hurt to laugh and smile and talking would hurt his jaw. He tried to hold in sneezes because they were too painful.
The biggest hurdle was eating, and he didn’t want to make a scene in the lunchroom.
“I couldn’t really chew much because my teeth were hurting pretty bad,” he recalled. “I was trying to eat soup. It didn’t go too well. I kept on spilling it all over me. So I ended up going into a teacher’s classroom and eating it in there so I didn’t look too dumb in front of everybody else.”
Dennis is back to normal eating, which is especially good because he received restaurant gift cards, among many items, from the Prince Avenue Christian baseball team when Savannah Christian visited the Bogart school on March 1.
Before he could play again in games, Dennis went to all of the Raiders’ contests and did what he could at practice. He is very thankful for PAC’s generosity, which included a blanket, a cup, a bracelet, and books, he said, but not an SCPS victory. The Wolverines won 4-3.
He got a chance to talk with PAC’s Williamson, whom he called a nice, good and big person.
“Obviously, it wasn’t intentional, but he felt bad about it,” said Dennis, who is about 6-2 and 190 pounds.
Putting up strong numbers
Dennis’ dream is to play professional baseball. He already secured the next step in November when he signed to play baseball at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, where he plans to major in exercise science with a focus on sports medicine.
One of his Raiders teammates is his stepbrother Dawson Kelly, a standout senior outfielder and pitcher who signed in February with Gordon State College.
A versatile pitcher, first baseman, and outfielder, Dennis is batting .519 with a .674 on-base percentage, .741 slugging percentage, and 1.415 OPS through Monday.
That includes his return to the lineup against Lovett on March 4, as he was so eager to play again after healing and dutifully going to practice. The Raiders put him as a designated hitter with the condition that he wear special protection.
“We put a helmet on him with a cage, like a little rec ball player,” Kelly said. “But he ended up going 3-for-4 with 5 RBIs and a bomb, a home run. So I joked with him after the game. I said, ‘I know you were raising Cain about that helmet right there, but guess what, you get to wear that the rest of the season. You can’t mess that mojo up.’ ”
After the Raiders had an unusual break in the schedule with no games from March 8-18, they had a three-game set with Region 3-A Division 1 rival Vidalia. Dennis made his return to the mound with a start on Friday, going five innings in an 8-2 win as SCPS improved to 9-8, 2-1 in the region.
Dennis was prepared physically and mentally by practicing comebackers to gain confidence and erase doubts or fears. He wore a softball helmet with a mask to protect his face.
PHOTO: Wearing a softball face mask for protection, Savannah Christian senior Harding Dennis plays first base on March 19 at Vidalia — his first game back on defense since his injury. Photo by Aimee Kelly, Raiders team photographer.
“Honestly, I tried not to think too much,” Dennis said. “I really just take things game by game. After I got hit in the face, I was ready to get back out there. It’s not the first time that’s happened, and it might not be the last. … It’s going to happen sometime.”
He had his longest outing of the season, throwing 53 of 90 pitches for strikes and yielding two hits, two runs (one earned), and five walks with eight strikeouts. He also batted 1-for-3 with one RBI and two walks.
He struck out the leadoff batter to start the game, he recalled.
“It was just like I never left,” said Dennis, now 3-1 with a 3.70 ERA, seven hits, eight runs (seven earned), 17 walks and 22 strikeouts in 13 innings. “That’s kind of how I wanted it to be. I’m glad it went over pretty smoothly. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than that.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy Savannah Christian Preparatory Aimee Kelly, Raiders baseball team photographer and Morris & Co Photography
FOLLOW the Prep Sports Report on Twitter @PrepSav and Instagram savannahsportsreport. If you have any scores, information, or story ideas to share, please email kdemasi@prepsportsreport.com.
Optim Orthopedics: Championing Savannah's Prep Sports Scene!
From the gridiron, hardwood, and baseball diamond, Optim Orthopedics stands tall as a dedicated supporter of high school athletes across Savannah. They're not just sponsors—they're game changers, delivering top-notch medical care to nine standout schools:
- Dr. Don Aaron: Bryan County Middle/High School
- Dr. David Sedory: Benedictine Military, Bradwell Institute, Liberty County
- Dr. David Palmer: Calvary Day, Richmond Hill, South Effingham
- Dr. Thomas Alexander: Savannah Country Day, St. Vincent's
As Southeast leaders in fellowship-trained orthopedic care, Optim Orthopedics fuels Prep Sports Report's basketball and football coverage. Because when the game's on the line, Optim Orthopedics gets you back in it!
