The Fort Mill High baseball team swept the season series with rival Nation Ford winning 10-4 Friday.
Having already won the series, Fort Mill came into the game wanting the season sweep, but more importantly locking up the Region 3-5A title with a win, while Nation Ford wanted to steal one and get some momentum back in their corner for the rest of the season.
In the end it was Fort Mill locking up the region and currently sitting at 13-1 in the region with one more region game to play. The Jackets are 17-5 overall.
“It is cool to do this at home,” said Fort Mill head coach Travis Collier. “It was right early. We settled in and good things started to happen. The guys continued to battle.”
The first inning was a wash for both teams, despite Fort Mill getting a base runner on with a walk to Josh Patterson.
Alex Smith and Cooper Mitchell both singled for Nation Ford in the second inning and a Fort Mill error allowed a run to give the Falcons an early 1-0 lead.
The Jackets would tie it up in the bottom of the second on a Nation Ford error as JB Walters scored after reaching on a walk. A passed ball scored JT Leonhardt giving Fort Mill the lead 2-1.
In the bottom of the third, Fort Mill got runners on the corners after an Andrew Craddock single. Michael Rogers, who walked earlier in the inning, would score on a passed ball.
Nation Ford would tie things up in the top of the fourth inning. Bradyn Deaton singled and Mitchell would homer to left field to tie the game at 3-3.
Leonhardt reached on an error in the bottom of the inning and Thomas Ealey singled to put runners in the corners. Rogers would single scoring the two and giving Fort Mill the lead again.
Nation Ford battled back in the top of the fifth after three straight singles by Justin Brink, Simon Fernandez and Deaton to score a run.
Fort Mill opened the game up in the bottom half with the help of a triple by Brent Laughter scoring Walters and Craddock. Leonhardt would then double to left field scoring Laughter before a pitching change by Nation Ford.
Falcons’ starter Liam Quinn would be pulled after four and a third innings allowing eight runs on six hits, while waking four.
Ealey would single in Leonhardt and Rogers would keep the hitting coming as Fort Mill put up five runs in the inning to take a 10-4 lead.
Jackets starter Tucker Gandy came out after five innings allowing four runs on seven hits while striking four without allowing a walk.
Rayce Buskirk would come in and shut the door on Nation Ford going two innings without allowing a hit, while walking one and striking out two.
The loss drops Nation Ford to 5-9 in the region as they still have a region game left to play. They are 10-12 overall.
“Liam Quinn gave us a great effort,” said Nation Ford head coach Jeff Stack. “He gave us everything he had. Fort Mill is a talented team. They did a great job.”
April 19 Roundup
The Nation Ford softball team beat Fort Mill to sweep the season series with a 3-0 win. Jackie Knol went 2-3 with two RBIs including a double and a home run to lead the Lady Falcons. Kailey Alston pitched a complete game allowing five hits without walking anyone and striking out 11. Ava DiPetro and Brook Rosario each had two hits for Fort Mill. Nation Ford improved to 11-4 overall and 7-1 in Region 3-5A. Fort Mill dropped to 5-9 overall and 4-6 in region play.
The Fort Mill girls’ soccer team beat Nation Ford 4-3 in overtime as the Jackets improved to 5-5 in Region 3-5A and 7-10-3 overall. Nation Ford dropped to 10-7 overall and 6-4 in the region.
The Nation Ford boys’ soccer team beat Fort Mill 1-0 to split the season series between the teams. Nation Ford improve to 6-4 in Region 3-5A and 15-6-1 overall. Fort Mill fell to 7-3 in the region and 11-7-1 overall.
The Catawba Ridge baseball team swept Northwestern in their season series with a 10-0 win to finish their Region 3-4A schedule at 14-1 and are now 21-2 overall on the season. Jackson Mullen went 2-3 with a home run and three RBIs and Ethan Solnick went 2-2 with four RBIs to lead the Copperheads at the plate. Zack McMahon went four innings to get the win allowing just two hits and walking two while striking out five.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
