BLYTHEWOOD – Spring Valley may have been first to have a run cross the plate Monday night, but the Blythewood baseball team kept the runs coming in a 10-1 victory, the Bengals fourth straight win at home.
Landon Penfield scattered six hits through five innings, striking out six to claim the win. He also hit a 3-run home run in the Bengals’ 6-run second inning.
The win puts Blythewood (10-5, 7-3 Region 3-5A) in a tie with Fort Mill (10-8, 6-3) in the region standings. The Bengals won the 3-game series with the Yellow Jackets two weeks ago.
“We were hoping we could take all three from Clover last week so we could set ourselves up a little bit better,” said Blythewood head coach Dolan Crolley, whose team also took 2-of-3 from the Blue Eagles last week. “We said to ourselves, leave no doubt. Don’t leave it up to chance. We wanted to try and win six straight in the region to leave no doubt that we’re the No.1 team.”
For Monday’s start to the Spring Valley series, there was no doubt after the second inning.
The Vikings scored the first run of the game in the second, but Spring Valley starting pitcher Jacob Graham had gotten off to a shaky start and saw Blythewood take advantage in the bottom of the that frame.
Graham, who hit five batters on the night, gave up a single to Carson Weathers, then hit Luke Duncan and Harrison Collins to load the bases with nobody out. Xavier Cuevas came to the plate and slapped a 2-run single to give Blythewood a 2-1 lead. Penfield then drove a Graham pitch over the fence in right field to put the Bengals up 5-1.
Graham walked Alex Myers, who stole second as Camden Watts batted. When Watts flied out, Myers moved to third and scored the sixth run of the inning on John Rollings’ groundout. Macon Leppert ended the inning with a fly out to leftfield.
Graham stayed on the mound for the Vikings (3-7, 1-6) until the fourth inning, when the Bengals picked up four more runs, all charged to him. Graham walked Penfield and hit Myers to start the inning. Later with two out, Leppert singled to right to score both Ryan Watts, the courtesy runner for Penfield, and Myers. With Sammy Franklin on base as Leppert’s courtesy runner, Weathers then came up and hit the first pitch over the leftfield fence for a 2-run home run.
Harrison Younginer came on the mound in relief of Graham and got Duncan to foul out. He pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.
Xavier Cuevas worked the sixth inning and closer John Rollings blanked Spring Valley in the seventh.
The Bengals played at Spring Valley Wednesday and play host to the Vikings again today. Today’s game will be the team’s Cancer Awareness Night. All money raised from concessions will be donated to help fight for a cure.
“It’s not a pink-out game. It’s for any types of cancer,” Crolley said. “The players will have about five or six colors of jerseys with different cancer symbols.”
During the game the team will ask for anyone whose life was affected by cancer to take the field and stand with the players during the National Anthem.
With spring break coming, Blythewood hosts the South Carolina Diamond Invitational, which opens Wednesday. Among the four games on the schedule that day, the Bengals play Chapin at 11:30 a.m. They play Boiling Springs next Thursday at 6 p.m. and Dorman Friday, April 14, at 3:30 p.m.
“We’re hoping to have some good competition,” Crolley said. “Boiling Springs has been playing really well, Chapin’s coming, we’ve got Oceanside Collegiate coming, Lexington coming, so it’s shaping up to be some really good competition.
All SCDI games will be played at Blythewood, with the championship game taking place at 5:30 p.m. April 15.
Wednesday
Blythewood – 0-0-1-0-0-0-0 – 1, 3, 1
Clover – 0-0-0-0-0-0-2 – 2, 4, 1
W: Cade Pilgrim. L: Camden Watts.
B: Luke Duncan 2B.
Friday
Clover – 1-1-0-1-0-1-0 – 4, 10, 1
Blythewood – 0-0-1-1-3-0-X – 5, 8 1
W: Harrison Collins. L: Sam Czyz
C: Cooper Zohner 4-4. Preston Satter 2-4. Dion Brown 2B, 2 RBI. B: Landon Penfield 2-2, 2B. Macon Leppert 2-3, 2B.
Monday
Spring Valley – 0-1-0-0-0-0-0 – 1, 6 2
Blythewood – 0-0-1-0-0-2-x – 10, 5 0
W: Landon Penfield. L: Jacob Graham
SCDI at Blythewood Field, April 12-15
Wednesday, April 12
- Game 1, 11:30 a.m. – Blythewood vs. Chapin
- Game 2, 2 p.m. – Oceanside Collegiate vs. Berkeley
- Game 3, 4:30 p.m. – T.L. Hanna vs. Lexington
- Game 4, 7 p.m. – Dorman vs. Boiling Springs
Thursday, April 13
- Game 5, 10:30 a.m. – Oceanside Collegiate vs. T.L. Hanna
- Game 6, 1 p.m. – Chapin vs. Dorman
- Game 7, 3:30 p.m. – Berkeley vs. Lexington
- Game 8, 6 pm. – Boiling Springs vs. Blythewood
Friday, April 14
- Game 9, 10:30 a.m. – Berkeley vs. T.L. Hanna
- Game 10, 1 p.m. – Boiling Springs vs. Chapin
- Game 11, 3:30 p.m. – Dorman vs. Blythewood
- Game 12, 6 p.m. – Lexington vs. Oceanside Collegiate
Saturday, April 15
- Game 13, 10 a.m. – No. 4, Bracket A vs. No. 4, Bracket B
- Game 14, 12:30 p.m. – No. 3, Bracket A vs. No.3, Bracket B
- Game 15, 3 p.m. – No. 2, Bracket A vs. No. 2, Bracket B
- Game 16, 5:30 p.m. – No. 1, Bracket A vs. No. 1, Bracket B