GILBERT – The Fort Mill baseball team won the Sandlapper Classic tournament at Gilbert High School over a four-day period during spring break.
The Jackets took a 1-0 victory over host Gilbert in the finals Wednesday as they improved to 13-5 overall on the season. The win was head coach Travis Collier’s 100th career win.
“The guys played very well this week,” Collier said. “I am really proud of them. We hope to use this week to motivate us for the next week of region play. This tournament win was a total team effort. I look forward to finishing the season strong.”
Fort Mill’s Connor Rasmussen pitched a two-hitter over seven innings as the Jackets scored in the top of the seventh to get the only run they would need in getting the win. Rasmussen allowed just the two hits without walking anyone and striking out two on 72 pitches.
The Jackets had eight hits in the game with Scott Young leading the way going 2-3. Nick Krise got the only RBI in the game with a single to centerfield scoring Zach Jennings, who was running for Young.
Fort Mill opened the tournament April 9 with a 8-3 win over White Knoll as the Jackets used a seven run third inning to take command and go on and get the win.
They then again threw a two hitter in a 12-0 shutout win over Richland Northeast which saw them scatter 11 hits as Eli Craddock led the way going 3-4 with 4 RBI on day two of the tournament Monday. Andrew Craddock got the win on the mound with a 13-strikeout performance in five innings of work.
In the semi-finals yesterday, Mathieu Curtis led Fort Mill to a 3-1 win over Cardinal Newman going the distance and striking out nine while allowing just one run on three hits. Dylan Schaefer would lead Fort Mill at the plate going 2-4 with an RBI as the Jackets had just six hits in the win.
Fort Mill has two weeks left in the regular season with two critical Region 3-5A series coming up. They will face Boiling Springs in a three-game series starting next week and then will host Gaffney to end their region schedule the last week of April. The Jackets currently sit at 1-5 overall in the region.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
