By Thomas Grant Jr.
Before facing each other starting next Tuesday in a home-at-home series for first place in Region 4-5A, Lexington and River Bluff participated in the Forest Acres Classic.
Sponsored by A.C. Flora High School, the three-day, 8-team tournament features teams throughout Lexington and Richland counties and defending Classic champion Miller (Va.)
Both teams won their respective opening games on Monday. Lexington defeated Lugoff-Elgin 9-1 as it posted at least one run in each of the first five innings.
Lincoln Hill and Allen Hagler both drove in two runs and Christian Spivey had two hits and an RBI. Pitcher Greg Kessler struck out five in five innings and Owen Watts and Brady Azeriah each threw two scoreless innings.
“It was really good to get an opening win in the tournament,” Lexington head coach Brian Hucks said. “Grant I thought gave us a really good start and I thought we did a good job one through nine in the lineup of running the bases and manufacturing runs and getting bunts down and those things and we scored every inning but the last one. So that made me really pleased how we performed offensively.”
Coming off a region loss to Dutch Fork, River Bluff began play at the Classic against Class 4A ranked Airport. The Gators trailed 2-0 after the third inning but loaded the bases in the Bottom 3rd.
A Walker Godwin sacrifice fly put River Bluff on the board. Dominick Norton followed with a 2-run single to make it 3-2. The Gators made it 5-2 with an RBI single by Tripp Hutto and RBI double by Banks Alexander.
A dropped ball in centerfield enabled the Eagles to pick up a run in the Top 5th. Starter Dalton Corley, who struck out nine batters in six innings and reliever Walker Godwin retired the last seven batters in order.
“Dalton, what he did late in that game, putting up those zeros up the last three innings, really allowed us to kind of stretch the lead out against (Airport),” River Bluff head coach Mark Bonnette.
The Wildcats opened Day Two of the Classic with an 8-3 win over Cardinal Newman. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a fielder’s choice by Spivey and sacrifice fly by Graham Coleman.
After the Cardinals tied the game in the Bottom 3rd, Greg Kessler scored on a double steal to regain the lead for Lexington.
University of South Carolina signee Brandon Cromer broke the game open with 3-run homer in the Top 5th. Allen Hagler added an RBI single to put Lexington up 7-2.
A Toby Sobieralski RBI single in the sixth made it 8-2. Cardinal Newman closed out the scoring with a solo home run by Alvin Murray.
Lexington can reach Thursday’s 1 p.m. Friday with a win over Miller (Va.) A potential Thursday’s 1 p.m. final matchup with the Gators could occur if they defeated A.C. Flora Tuesday and Hammond School Wednesday.
Photo: River Bluff pitcher Dalton Corley
