COLUMBIA – Richland Post 215 swept Fort Mill Post 43 in the second round of the playoffs.
Post 215 beat Fort Mill 4-3 as Post 43 struggled at the plate getting just one hit. The loss dropped Fort Mill to 12-5 on the season. They will open the state championship tournament starting Saturday, July 19 at Fort Mill High.
Richland picked up where they left off in game one by going up early in the bottom of the first. Post 215 scored two runs on three hits.
Fort Mill was unable to get anything going in the top of the second, but Richland added another run on a hit in the bottom of the inning second to go up 3-0.
Fort Mill got their first base runner in Blake Chatman in the top of the third with a Richland error, but he was left stranded on first to end the inning.
Post 215 started their half of the third by getting a runner on with Fort Mill’s second error. However, Post 43 had their best inning in the game and was able to get out of the inning without allowing a run.
Fort Mill starter Grey Kneidel settled into a groove by the third inning, but Post 43 struggled to give him any run support.
In the top of the fifth, James Carlin walked to get on with one out and made it to third. A wild pitch scored Carlin to give Post 43 a run.
Richland again threatened in the bottom of the inning, but Kneidel worked around having runners at the corners after a double and a walk to get out of the inning.
Post 215 faced the minimum in the sixth inning and then led the bottom of the inning off with a triple. A bad hop single scored a run for Richland with two outs putting Post 215 up 4-1.
Carter Czapla, Carlin, and Chatman led the top of the seventh off with walks for Post 43 to load the bases with one out. Michael Caropreso would drive a run in on a fielder’s choice to cut the Richland lead in half. Eli Cheske got Post 43’s first hit of the game with two outs in the seventh to score Carlin and put runners on the corners before Post 215 changed pitchers.
Kneidel got the loss, but didn’t pitch bad after the second inning. He went six innings allowing four runs on eight hits, while walking three and striking out five.
Caropreso had two RBIs, while Cheske went 1-4 with the only hit and had an RBI.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
