Both the Fort Mill Post 43 senior and junior teams opened the American Legion playoffs at home with wins over their respective opponents Monday.
The senior team improved to 11-6 overall with a 9-3 win over Buffalo Post 87. River Joye got the win on the mound going six and a third innings while allowing three runs on two hits and walking four. He struck out 11 in the win.
Post 43 struggled in the field making five errors, but also scattered 12 hits in the win. Fort Mill didn’t get hot offensively until the fourth inning and held a small 2-0 lead after three innings.
Fort Mill scored a run in the bottom of the first inning as Scott Young drove in Nico Bartolotti on a single to put Post 43 on the board. Young went 2-3 at the plate with two RBIs.
Post 43 added another run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Young to again score Bartolotti, who reached on a single. Bartolotti also went 2-3 with an RBI in the game.
In the fourth inning, Fort Mill scored two runs on four hits with Jonathan Barschow starting the inning off with a double. Hunter Busque would then drive Barschow in on a single. Singles by Eli Craddock and Bartolotti pushed the Fort Mill lead to 4-0.
Post 43 added two more runs in the fifth and then three runs in the sixth to blow the game open. Joye cruised along and didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning where Buffalo scored their first run of the game.
Both Busque and Barschow each collected two hits in the game. Busque and Sam Czyz each had two RBIs as well.
Buffalo would add two more runs in the seventh inning to make the game closer than it seemed.
Post 43 will now travel to Inman on Tuesday as part of the Foothills Region pool play to take on Inman Post 45.
Juniors rally against Greer
The Post 43 junior team rallied from down 4-3 to get a 10-4 win over the Greer Warhawks to take game one of their best of three series against them.
Fort Mill scored four runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to grab the lead to open the series. At the plate, Braydon Hampton and Quinn Clouden each got two hits for Post 43 in the nine-hit game.
Post 43 opened the game scoring three runs in the bottom of the first, but Greer put up four runs in the second inning to gain the lead.
However, errors by Greer and timely hits by Fort Mill allowed them to crawl back into the game. Clouden got the start, but was pulled in the third inning after allowing four runs on four hits in the game. Tyler Causey got the win for Post 43 finishing the game going three and two-thirds innings allowing one hit and striking out three.
Post 43 plays game two at Stevens Field in Greer on Tuesday.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
