Post 43’s Avery Childs slides into third base during a sacrifice fly in their game against Lancaster Post 31. Childs led the team going 3-4 at the plate.

With a 9-0 record heading into the break, the Fort Mill Post 43 Junior team will have its biggest challenge coming up in two weeks with defending state champion Rock Hill Post 34.

Post 43 beat Lancaster Post 31 6-3 Thursday evening to stay perfect on the season after rallying in the sixth inning to score four runs and grab the lead.

“We haven’t been behind a lot,” said Post 43 Juniors head coach Michael Lewis. “It is good to give us a test.”

Lancaster Post 31 had a 3-2 lead coming into the bottom of the sixth inning, but Post 43 got key hits from Logan Sulli to lead the inning off and then a double from Avery Childs followed by a two RBI single from Brennan Helms to give Fort Mill the lead. Rylee Ashworth would also single and Thomas Ealey would score running for him later in the inning on an error from the Post 31 catcher.

On the mound, Logan Sulli would get the save pitching the seventh inning and despite having runners on second and third was able to get out of the jam with two strikeouts in the inning.

Ethan Lambert got the win on the mound going just two innings, but allowed two hits and a run, while walking just one for Post 43. Trevor Hanson got the start for Fort Mill and pitched four innings allowing two runs on four hits while striking out four and walking two.

“Trevor did a great job,” Lewis said. “Ethan did a great job as well.”

Post 43 went up 2-0 in the third inning off a two RBI double from Ashworth, scoring Helms and Drew Brink. Ashworth went 2-4 with two RBI and Helms went 1-3 with two RBI to lead the way at the plate for Fort Mill. Childs went 3-4 as well in the leadoff spot for Post 43.

Lancaster came back in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game where it would stay that way until the top of the sixth when Post 31 would score a run to take the lead.

Post 43 Juniors are off next week and will get back into action July 5 against Rock Hill in a crucial three-game series to see who wins the league title. Lewis gave a lot of credit to the team’s success to his main assistant coaches Josh Corley and Daniel Gueldner.

Seniors fall to Lancaster for their first loss

Fort Mill Post 43 Seniors couldn’t rally for a third time against Lancaster Post 31, who gave them their first loss on the season, 9-8 in Lancaster Thursday night.

Post 43 got down early in the first 1-0, but was able to grab a 2-1 lead in the second inning. That lead was short lived as Lancaster had the big inning that Fort Mill has been having and scored seven runs in the bottom of the second to go up 8-2.

While Fort Mill added three runs in both the fourth and seventh innings, they couldn’t hold Lancaster off like they had in the previous two games. Post 43 is now 7-1 on the season. They have one more league series coming up in two weeks against Rock Hill Post 34, who also has one loss. The series at this point should determine who wins the league.

Against Lancaster Thursday, Post 43 was led by Patrick Matthews, who went 3-4 with two RBI. Both Chase Doughtery and Nic Curtis hit home runs as Curtis went 1-4 with three RBI and Doughtery went 2-4 with two RBI.

Jacob Boyna got the loss on the mound going just one inning allowing seven runs on five hits while walking two.

Post 43 travels to Newberry College Monday to face Chapin/Newberry and is still trying to reschedule the season opener that got rained out against Chesterfield. Their next league game will be at home July 5 against Rock Hill Post 34.

Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep

Trevor Hanson got the start on the mound for Post 43 and went four innings and struck out four in the process.