Fort Mill Post 43’s Blake Sherrill threw a complete game two hitter striking out nine Lancaster batters, including five in a row at one point.

LANCASTER – Two home runs in the fifth inning lifted Fort Mill Post 43 to a 10-0 win over Lancaster Post 31 improving them to 2-1 overall on the season and 2-0 in league play.

After a week of rainouts affecting two other games for Post 43, Fort Mill finally got a chance to play Friday evening at Lancaster’s Harvey Eggleton Field and they wasted no time getting down to business.

“I am very proud of how our guys played,” said Post 43 head coach Tom Skula. “We responded very well after being off for over a week having to deal with the rain again.”

Starting pitcher Blake Sherrill was spot on from the mound pitching a complete game two-hitter in just 75 pitches as he struck out nine and walked just one batter. Lancaster Post 31 head coach Jimmy Jackson said he was impressed with how Sherrill handled his batters. The loss puts Lancaster at 1-4 overall and 1-2 in league play.

“Sherrill was really good,” Jackson said. “He commanded all his pitches.”

Fort Mill was just as effective at the plate scattering 11 hits in the game. AJ Jaworowski led going 3-3 with a double and a three-run home run driving in four Post 43 runs. Patrick Matthews and Brady Stone each collected two hits as well.

Post 43 scored three runs in the second inning on three hits. Jaworowski and Stone each collected hits and Gabe Simmons drove in a run with an RBI single as well.

The third inning proved to be beneficial as well as Fort Mill collected three more hits and scored two more runs to make it 5-0. Matthews singled to lead the inning off and then Indian Land’s Chase Dougherty doubled driving in Matthews, as Jaworowski would double right behind him knocking in Keith Feeley pinch running for Dougherty.

Finally, in the fifth inning things really got exciting for Fort Mill as they would score five runs on two hits. Xavier Cumbee led the inning off with a solo home run and Kolby Crepeau would single and Dougherty would walk setting up Jaworowski’s three run home run to make it 9-0. Nic Curtis would reach on a Lancaster error and then would score on a sacrifice by Aaron Pendergast to make it 10-0 and ending the game because of the 10-run mercy rule.

“I thought our approach at the plate was really good,” Skula said. “We continue to grind at-bats and really put pressure on the defensive to make plays. For us to be successful moving forward and coming together as a team, we have to continue to have that mindset. AJ and Xavier put an exclamation point on the night with their home runs.”

Fort Mill is scheduled to play Rock Hill Monday and Lancaster Wednesday at Eggleton Field. They will travel to Thomas Sumter Academy Thursday to play Danzell.

Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep