The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets baseball team took game one of their rivalry series against the Nation Ford Falcons.
Fort Mill came away with a 10-0 victory improving 12-12 on the season and 8-8 in Region 3-5A. Nation Ford dropped to 15-9 overall on the season and 9-7 in the region.
“Our guys had an amazing approach,” said Fort Mill head baseball coach Travis Collier. “We did a lot of things very well. We did a lot of things right tonight. We have to stay and do our thing and play our game. I felt like we did a good job of that. If we continue to do that the rest of the week, good things will happen.”
The second batter of the game Noah Layton opened the game in the first inning with a single for the Falcons. Alex Smith then walked and Layton stole third with two outs later in the inning to put runners at the corners. However, the Jackets were able to get out of inning without allowing a run.
Fort Mill came out hitting as leadoff hitter Jackson Bendis singled and Caleb Trader followed with a single, before Braden Richardson drove in Bendis putting the Jackets up 1-0. Ivan Conrad would then single driving in Trader and Brayden Grogan, who walked earlier in the inning.
In the bottom of the second, Cooper Diehl doubled for the Jackets to keep things moving for them. However, things would be short lived as Fort Mill would have courtesy runner picked off to limit the Jackets opportunities.
Nation Ford struggled at the plate through the first three innings getting just one hit.
Trader and Richardson started the bottom of the third inning with a walked for the Jackets. Grogan then reached on an error allowing Trader to score putting Fort Mill ahead 4-0. A sacrifice fly by Gabe Sipe scored courtesy runner Eli Cheske and a wild pitch scored Grogan extending the Jackets lead.
Michael Caropreso beat out an infield single to start the fourth inning for Nation Ford, but the Falcons were unable to get him to score.
The bottom of the inning saw Diehl reach on an error and Bendis walk to open things. Trader would single with one out scoring Diehl, before a pitching change. Nation Ford starter Carter Powell would go three and a third innings allowing eight runs on six hits, while walking five and striking out four. Richardson would hit a sacrifice fly scoring Bendis for the second out of the inning putting Fort Mill up 8-0.
In the sixth inning, Micah Prowsior singled for the Falcons to start the inning and Alex Smith walked with one out, but Fort Mill got out of the inning with a double play to stop any Nation Ford momentum.
Fort Mill continued to get base runners on to start their half of the inning. Bendis walked and JT Leonhardt was hit by a pitch opening the bottom of the sixth inning. Bendis would later score on a pop out in the inning. An error by Nation Ford would end the game in the sixth inning forcing the 10-run rule to go into effect.
Trader led Fort Mill at the plate going 2-3 with an RBI, while Richardson went 1-2 with three RBIs. Richardson also pitched a complete game allowing just three hits and walking three, while striking out four.
Nation Ford was led by Prowsior, Layton and Caropreso, all of whom went 1-3 in the game. Game two of the series is scheduled for Nation Ford on Wednesday, April 29.
April 27 Roundup
The Catawba Ridge baseball team opened their series against Clover with a 12-2 win. The Copperheads improved to 15-9 on the season and 10-6 in Region 3-5A. Tyler Causey led Catawba Ridge at the plate going 3-4 with four RBIs and both James Carlin and Jack Provenzano each had two RBIs as well. Bryce Meil got the win going four innings and allowing three hits without giving up a run and striking out nine.
The Nation Ford boys’ lacrosse team lost to Greenville 7-5 in the opening round of the 5A Division II playoffs. The Falcons finished the season at 7-10 overall on the year.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
