By Thomas Grant Jr.
For the second straight year, the Lexington baseball team was back in the state finals.
The Wildcats entered Game 1 at James Island Tuesday riding a 14-game post-season streak in pursuit of its eighth state title. They had just swept Blythewood in two games to win the Upper State final.
“I think we’re built for it,” said Lexington head coach Brian Hucks following the 15-3 win in Game Two. “We talk about just getting better every day and we talk about the schedule that we play. We play all of those games early because we know that at some point, that’s going to make us better and going to make us tougher.
“I think that hurts us in the RPI (ratings) a little bit because we play such a tough schedule. We lost nine games and some of these other teams lose four or five. But, playing the schedule we do makes us ready for this moment right now. The other final four teams (Blythewood, James Island and Stratford), we played them all during the regular season.”
On Wednesday, however, Lexington found itself at home looking to keep alive its repeat hopes. It suffered a 5-4 loss in eight innings to the Trojans for their first post-season loss in two years.
A leadoff home run by Toby Sobieralski put the Wildcats up in the first inning. The Trojans answered with an RBI double by Trip Ostergard to tie it in the Bottom 1st, only to have S.C. Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A All-State selection Christian Spivey homer in the third to regain the lead.
Another All-State selection, Taj Marchard, hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the Bottom 3rd to deadlock the game again. James Island took the lead an inning later on an RBI double by Jake Amman.
A Lincoln Hill sacrifice fly made it 3-3 in the fifth. The Wildcats loaded the bases in the seventh but could only get a game-tying single from Logan Blight.
James Island quickly tied the game a fourth time with a leadoff double by Marchant and RBI single by Ostergard. This forced extra innings where Lexington stranded two baserunners in the Top 8th.
The Trojans loaded the bases to open the bottom half of the inning. On the first pitch, Stow Rogers hit a walk off RBI single to give James Island Game One.
Should Lexington win Game Two, the deciding contest will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday at Riley Park in Sumter.
Panthers drop Game 1
For the first time since 2004, Batesburg-Leesville was playing in the Class 2A baseball final.
The Panthers reached the championship after going 6-0 enroute to winning their District and the Upper State title. Awaiting them in the final in Charleston was Lower State champion Phillip Simmons.
Boosted by a strong outing by senior lefthander Nolan Clifford and capitalizing off Batesburg-Leesville miscues, the Iron Horses took Game One 5-3.
“When you have 8 walks, and your defense makes three costly errors, you usually don ‘t win a baseball game, and that is what happened to us today, against a quality opponent who took advantage of those two things,” Batesburg-Leesville head coach Rob Bouknight. “Our challenge on Tuesday, at our place, is to throw strikes, and don’t make errors. If we improve on those two things we will be a much better team for sure.”
Batesburg-Leesville took a 1-0 in the Top 1st on an RBI double by Braydon Hallman. The Iron Horses answered with four unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings to take a 4-1 lead.
Hallman added an RBI single in the fifth inning. Phillip Simmons extended its lead to 5-2 before Jack Bouknight drove in a run in the Top 7th as part of a late rally.
Rainfall pushed back Game Two to Wednesday at Batesburg-Leesville.
In other news, the Panthers’ Tanner Watkins was selected to the S.C. Baseball Coaches Association’s Class 2A All-State team. Other Lake Murray selections were Brandon Cromer and Reidar Carlson (both of Lexington) in Class 5A, Sid Shaw (Saluda) in Class 2A, Jacob Hair (Swansea) in Class 3A Colby Livingston (Mid-Carolina) and Class 4A Pitcher of the Year Dalton Taylor (Gilbert).
Lady Tigers make final
The Saluda softball team had to wait a day to play its first-ever state championship game.
The bad weather in Turbeville pushed back Game One of the Best-of-Three Class 2A final against East Clarendon to Wednesday. The Lady Tigers shut out Ninety-Six 5-0 led by All-State pitcher Miller Martin who allowed just one hit and struck out six.
Game Two will take place Thursday in Saluda.
“It’s just awesome that the girls get to experience it,” Saluda head coach Hannah Towery said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I’m glad they’re the ones who get to do it.”
The list of other Lake Murray players named to the S.C. Coaches Association of Women’s Sports All-State softball team included:
CLASS 5A: Sam Craig and Livi Warren (both of Lexington) and Ashlyn Blackstone (Blythewood)
CLASS 4A: Ainsley Minchew (Gilbert)
