The Fort Mill Post 43 senior team snapped a two-game skid by beating Lancaster Post 31 at home Monday night.
Post 43 won 10-0 in five innings as they improved to 9-6 overall and 6-5 in League IV play. Fort Mill had 10 hits in the win and rebounded from a four-hit loss to Lancaster last Friday.
Pitching continued to be good for Fort Mill as Sam Czyz pitched a complete game and allowed four hits while walking none and striking out six Lancaster hitters.
Offensively, Fort Mill started slow, but got two runs in the second inning to help get momentum going their direction. Three innings later, Post 43 exploded to score eight runs in the fifth to enforce the 10-run mercy rule.
In the second inning, Jaeger Pankowski, who led at the plate going 2-3 with two RBIs, singled and then would score on a Drew Gaff single, which also scored Jonathan Barschow, putting Fort Mill up 2-0. Gaff would go 1-2 with two RBIs as well.
The 2-0 lead would hold until the fifth inning. Czyz would cruise through the third and fourth innings. Lancaster would threaten with getting two runners on in the fifth inning, but could never push them across.
In the bottom of the fifth, Fort Mill scored eight runs on six hits and two Lancaster errors. An error and a walk started the inning off for Post 43. That led to Nico Bartolotti driving in a run with a single, followed by a double from Gabe Simmons, which scored a run.
Another error made the score 5-0 before a single by Zach Jennings, who went 2-3 with an RBI, made it 6-0 knocking in Simmons. Pankowski drove in two runs on a single and Hunter Busque doubled to knock in another run. Nick Krise singled to end the game making it 10-0 scoring Pankowski.
Fort Mill will finish the regular season Wednesday at Lancaster Post 31 and should know this weekend who they open the playoffs against.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
