A late rally in the seventh inning wasn’t enough for the Fort Mill baseball team to come from behind to beat the Boiling Springs Bulldogs.
The Jackets fell 5-2 to the Bulldogs as offensively they struggled to hit the ball, despite a strong defensive showing. The loss drops Fort Mill to 2-3 in Region 3-5A and 8-8 overall with another key game against Boiling Springs coming up Friday night on the road.
“We aren’t out of it,” said Fort Mill head coach Travis Collier. “It is just going to take some timely hitting and sound defense.”
Fort Mill struggled to hit the ball with runners in scoring position as they left 11 men on base Wednesday night. It also took a while to get the Jackets’ bats going as they didn’t pick up their first hit of the game until the sixth inning.
Boiling Springs starter Tristan Smith carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning, but threw 99 pitches in the game while walking eight and striking out nine. Jackets started Brayden Franse went three innings and pitched decently allowing three runs on three hits.
The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead after four innings as the Jackets weren’t able to get their bats going. When Fort Mill did hit the ball, they were able to get their offense going. In the sixth, Riley Reyes ripped a single scoring Zach Schaefer, who reached on an error earlier in the inning to give the Jackets their first run of the game.
Boiling Springs scored two runs in the top of the seventh off Luke Garabedian, who came in for relief of Franse in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the inning, Keenan Sumner singled to get things started for Fort Mill. His hit was followed by hits from both Dusty Sanderlin and Zach Schaefer, who drove in Sumner. The rally, which started with two outs, was short lived as Fort Mill left both Sanderlin and Schaefer stranded to end the game.
Fort Mill travels to Boiling Springs Friday for game three of the series and then will have a three-game series next week against Gaffney, which will be critical for them to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
