For the second straight game, hitting issues plagued the Fort Mill Post 43 senior team as they lost their second consecutive game.
Post 43 fell 4-2 on the road to Lancaster Post 31 and are now 8-6 overall on the season and 5-5 in League IV play with two more games next week against Post 31.
Fort Mill got four hits in the loss to Lancaster. Four of the six losses that Post 43 have are on the road this season.
Post 43 started well and went up 1-0 in the second inning with a sacrifice by Scott Young scoring Gabe Simmons, who reached on an error. That one run was all Fort Mill could muster in the early part of the game.
Lancaster struggled at the plate in the early part of the game, but by the time they went through the lineup again seeing Fort Mill starter Nick Krise, they were able to perform better.
In the fourth inning, Austin Phillips singled to start the bottom half of the inning and then would score on a single. A sacrifice by Connor Griffin put Post 31 up 2-1 and another sacrifice by Brody Sanders would give Post 31 a 3-1 lead.
Krise would be replaced in the inning after going three and a third innings allowing three runs on five hits, while walking two to take the loss. Nick Sholl would pitch the next inning and two thirds for Fort Mill allowing one walk and striking out two.
Offensively, Post 43 struggled to get anything going. Both Drew Gaff and Hunter Busque went 1-2 for Fort Mill and Nico Bartolotti went 1-3 in the game. Young and Eli Craddock drove in the only two runs in the game for Post 43.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Landon Peavy would drive in Griffin on a sacrifice fly to add the final run for Lancaster.
Post 43 scored their only other run in the top of the seventh to rally some, but couldn’t do anything after that. Young singled to open the top of the inning and Craddock was able to drive him in to cut the Lancaster lead in half. However, Fort Mill couldn’t push another run across ending the game on a fielder’s choice.
Post 43 plays Lancaster at home Monday, July 3 and then wraps up the regular season Wednesday, July 5 back down in Lancaster.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
