SUMTER – Four days after suffering an embarrassing 11-0, 6-inning loss to Blythewood High School in its District VI tournament opener in the 5A state playoffs on Tuesday at Riley Park, Sumter High School’s varsity baseball team turned the tables on the Bengals Saturday as three Gamecock pitchers combined to hurl a 2-hitter in a 7-1 victory at Gamecock Field.
The win evened Sumter’s record at 13-13 and advanced the Gamecocks to the district championship round on Monday. Sumter will travel to Wando needing two wins over the Warriors to advance to the next round. Wando is undefeated in district play with wins over Spring Valley and Blythewood.
After being outhit 13-4 by Blythewood on Tuesday, Sumter had one of its most productive days at the plate in the rematch with 14 hits. Still, even with seven runs on the board the Gamecocks could have had more as baserunning gaffes in the first and fourth innings short-circuited what could have been bigger rallies, with Sumter settling for single runs in both innings.
Jackson Hoshour opened the frame with a single to left and took second on a wild pitch ahead of a Trey Yates walk. Jacob Holladay singled to left and Hoshour made a wide turn toward the plate. Leftfielder Nate Hinson’s throw to the plate was cut off by third baseman Landon Lucas, who threw to shortstop Zac Cowan for the putout at third as Hoshour slid back to the bag late. Drake Thames followed with a fly ball to left that likely would have scored Hoshour and Joey Pereira singled to right-center to bring home Yates, salvaging one run out of the inning.
Blythewood tied the score with a run in the top of the fourth as John Lanier drew a walk, stole second and came home on a Brady Carson single.
With runs seemingly at a premium, the Gamecocks once again ran themselves out of a potential big inning in their half of the fourth. Thames led off the inning with a single up the middle, stole second and crossed home on a Victor Brown single to left. A single to right from Josh Sykes and a fielder’s choice grounder from Josh Bryant would move Brown to third, but Brown would get caught leaning toward home and go down on a 1-5-2 putout after a rundown to end the inning.
Even though Sumter only scored one run in the fourth, it was the beginning of something big on offense as the Gamecocks scored six of their seven runs and stroked nine of their hits in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
While Sumter’s bats were coming to life, starter Wylie Coker and relievers Seth Posey and Thames were setting the Bengals down with regularity. Coker retired the first seven batters he faced with four strikeouts before walking Jansen Stokes with one out in the third. A Cowan fielder’s choice erased Stokes at second and a Lucas fly to left ended the inning.
Coker would get Zach Bailes on a 1-3 putout before walking Lanier and Josh Cowan, forcing Shumake to bring on Posey to face Carson. After Carson’s RBI single, Posey struck out Michael Gregory and Hinson to close the frame. Posey would get the win on the mound, going 2 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and two walks, including one intentional.
Thames came on to pitch the seventh with a bit of a dramatic flair. After Hinson flew out to left on Thames’ first pitch, Stokes and Zac Cowan drew walks, with Lucas singling to left for the Bengals’ second hit. With the bases loaded and Blythewood seemingly ready to mount a comeback, Thames rallied to strike out Bailes and Lanier to end the season for the Bengals, who closed with a 15-12 record.
Trey Yates led the way for Sumter at the plate with a 3-for-3 effort that included two singles, a double, a stolen base, three runs batted in and three runs scored. Jacob Holladay also singled and doubled with an RBI while catcher Bryce Spittle reached on two singles, leading to runs for courtesy runners Keiran Hagerty and Xavier Brown.
SHS:1-0-0-1-2-3-X- 7
BHS:0-0-0-1-0-0-0 – 1
Pitching: BHS- Alex Canino (L), 4IP, 8H, 2R, 2ER, 2K, 1BB. Nate Hinson, 1.1IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB. Cole Riley, 0.2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1K SHS – Wylie Coker (W), 3.1IP, 0H, 1R, 1ER, 4K, 3BB. Seth Posey, 2.2 IP, 1H, 3K, 2BB. Drake Thames, 1.0, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 2K, 2BB.
Hitting: 1B -Landon Lucas, Brady Carson. (BHS). Hoshour (2) Trey Yates (2), Jacob Holladay, Joseph Pereira, Victor Brown, Joshua Sykes, Bryce Lyons, Bryce Spittle (2) (SHS). 2B – Jacob Holladay, Trey Yates (SHS).