American Legion Baseball 2016 by Cary Johnson Howard

SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2016

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL

THE SUMTER ITEM

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AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL

SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2016

THE SUMTER ITEM

Host P-15’s ‘hungry’ for title

LEGION STATE TOURNAMENT

JULY 23-27 • RILEY PARK

Schedule

THE SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO Todd Larrimer is Sumter’s leading hitter entering the state tournament with a .444 batting average. The P-15’s open the state tournament against Greenwood on Saturday at Riley Park.

BY DENNIS BRUNSON dennis@theitem.com The 2016 American Legion baseball postseason has been a tumultuous one for the Sumter P-15’s. A benches-clearing brawl in the opening game of the first-round series against Lexington almost got Sumter kicked out of the playoffs. The P-15’s were allowed to remain and pummeled Lexington in two games to win the shortened best-of-3 series. That was followed by a second-round series against Murrells Inlet in which Sumter won two games on late 3-run home runs, coughed up a late 3-run lead in Game 3 and had to wait four days before finally playing and winning Game 4 to clinch the series. And when it’s all said and done, Sumter had earned its way into the state tournament, which begins on Saturday at Riley Park. The P-15’s would have been in as the host, but they didn’t want to go in through the backdoor. “This team is wanting to win a state championship,” said second-year Sumter head coach Steve Campbell, whose team brings a 22-5 record into the tournament as the No. 3 seed from the lower state. “They are hungry for it. They’ve played with everything they’ve had to get here.” Sumter will take on No. 2 upper state seed Greenwood in the final of four games on Saturday with a scheduled starting time of 7 p.m. The P-15’s were struggling offensively heading into the playoffs and that was still the case in the first game against Lexington, a No. 4 seed to Sumter’s No. 1. Sumter was trailing 4-2 when a fight broke out that brought players from both benches. The American Legion baseball state committee decided to allow both teams remain in the playoffs and shorten the series to a best-of-3. Sumter beat Lexington 20-0 and 19-6 to win the series. That was followed by 6-4 and 8-6 wins over Murrells Inlet before losing 10-6. The P-15’s wrapped it up with an 18-5 pounding in the final game. Sumter has scored 77 runs in the playoffs after scoring just 148 in 20 regular-season games. “We were talking about that the other night, about how we’ve been hitting the ball particularly well since the Lexington series,” Campbell said. “We know now that we’re

going to be facing some of the top teams in the state and it’s going to be a challenge. But we like what we’re doing offensive now. Sumter is hitting .309 as a team after hitting .275 entering the playoffs. It is led by catcher/first baseman Todd Larrimer with a .444 average and a .549 on-base percentage. Jordan Holladay is next with a .413 average, but he has an OBP of .546 as he been hit by 16 pitches and walked 11 times. Caleb Larrimore (.346), Dawson Price (.343), Brandon Spittle (.342) and Ryan Touchberry (.342) are all hitting above .340. Sumter has been fiddling with its batting order the entire season, and in the final game against Murrells Inlet, Spittle batted leadoff for the first time with Ryan Moore going down to the No. 9 slot. Also, Daniel Twitty was inserted into the lineup in Game 3, hit the ball well, and started Game 4, hitting the ball well again. “We’re going to stick with that (lineup against Greenwood),” Campbell said. “We made an adjustment; Brandon took a good job at the top and Ryan seemed more comfortable at No. 9.” While the hitting has improved in the playoffs, the pitching has struggled at times. The team earned run average has jumped from 3.09 to 3.36. Either Rylan Williamson or Dawson Price will start the opener against Greenwood. The right-handed Price is 5-0 in 45 1/3innings of work with a 1.79 earned run average.Williamson, also a righty, is 6-0 but with a 4.41 ERA in 51 innings. Tradd James is next innings with 36 2/3, but has started only one game, working a lot in long relief. He is 3-3 with two saves and a 2.70 ERA. Larrimore is 3-1 with a 4.08 ERA in 28 2/3 innings and Touchberry is 2-0 with one save and a 2.25 ERA in 28 innings. “I think our pitching and our defense has carried us most of the season,” Campbell said. “We need our pitching to continue to come through for us.” While the field includes defending World Series champion Chapin/Newberry Posts 193/24 and Florence Post 1, which has been in the championship round four straight seasons, Campbell likes his team’s chances. “I know we’re a good ball club, as good as anybody,” Campbell said. “We have to go out there and perform like we’re capable of doing. If we try to do things we’re not capable of doing then we’ll be in trouble.”

H SATURDAY

Game 1 -- Greenville (U4) vs. Florence (L1), 3 p.m. Game 2 -- Camden (L4) vs. Rock Hill (U1), 9 a.m. Game 3 -- Sumter (L3) vs. Greenwood (U2), 7 p.m. Game 4 -- Inman (U3) vs. Chapin/Newberry (L2), Noon

H SUNDAY

Game 5 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3, 9 a.m. Game 6 -- Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 4, Noon Game 7 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 3, 3 p.m. Game 8 -- Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4, 7 p.m.

H MONDAY

Game 9 -- Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6, Noon Game 10 -- Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5, 3 p.m. Game 11 -- Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 7 p.m.

H TUESDAY

Game 12 -- Loser Game 11 vs. Winner Game 10, 1 p.m. Game 13 -- Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 9, 7 p.m.

H WEDNESDAY

Game 14 -- Winner Game 14 vs. Winner Game 12, 10 a.m. Game 15 -- Winner Game 14 vs. Winner Game 12 (if necessary) Note 1: Pairings for Game 12 and Game 13 will not match previous opponents against each other unless necessary. Note 2: If three teams remain after Game 13, the winner of Game 11 automatically draws the bye for Game 14.

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AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2016

THE SUMTER ITEM

‘Good mix’ helps Rock Hill to state

Rock Hill’s Tyler Jordan, left, and the rest of Post 34 earned the No. 1 seed from the upper state entering Saturday’s American Legion state tournament at Riley Park.

JEFF SOCHKO / THE HERALD

BY JUSTIN DRIGGERS justin@theitem.com

across the board, Post 34’s bread-and-butter has been pitching and defense, he said.

play small ball or get big extra-base hits when needed, McCoy said.

First-year Rock Hill Post 34 head coach Jeremy McCoy has what he calls a “good mix” of just about everything on his American Legion baseball squad.

“We’ve got four guys who came back from college and two of them have been my top two pitchers this year,” McCoy said. “Josh Alley and Trent Autry have been my workhorses on the mound. I’ve also gotten a lot of great innings from Andrew Shipman and Will Gardner.

In three second-round playoff games, Post 34 outscored Spartanburg 24-5. Rock Hill as a team has hit about 10 home runs this year -- which is pretty good considering it plays at the pitcher-friendly confines at South Pointe High School, McCoy said.

“We don’t have a lot of true returners from last year’s team,” McCoy said. “But we’ve got a lot of kids that have played Legion ball at some level. We’ve got two Junior Legion teams in Rock Hill, so this group is a good mix of (older and younger) players.” The mix was plenty good this season as Post 34 earned the League V title, a first-round bye in the state playoffs and a sweep of Spartanburg to advance to the American Legion baseball state tournament that begins on Saturday at Riley Park. Rock Hill, which is 16-3 on the season, is the top seed from the upper state and will face lower state play-in winner and No. 4 seed Camden at 9 a.m. in its opening game. While McCoy has also seen a good mix of talent

“We also have played really good defense – we don’t throw the ball around a lot. So when you combine those two things, it really helps you in a 9-inning ball game.”

“Some nights it’s a single here and a single there and some nights we have our power nights putting balls in the gap or over the fence,” he added. “We really just seem to play however we need to depending on how we’re doing on the mound.

Rising high school juniors Wesley Sweatt and Rob Hughes have also provided quality innings starting and relieving as part of a roster that features 13 players who can take the ball at a given time.

“We’re a team that puts the ball in play – we’re not going to strike out a lot.”

That versatility extends to the lineup as both Alley and Autry have been key cogs as well. Shipman, Gardner and Will Reid have also been big contributors this season in a lineup that can

“If we can get a couple of runs on the board and continue to pitch and play defense like we have, that’s probably going to be the biggest key for us going forward,” he said.

McCoy is confident the runs will come when the tournament begins and that will bode well if his squad can continue to pitch and defend like it has.

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SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2016

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL

THE SUMTER ITEM

Camden plays way into state tourney BY DENNIS BRUNSON dennis@theitem.com

have worked out better for his team.

After losing out to defending American Legion World Series champion Chapin/ Newberry Posts 193/24 in the second round of the state playoffs on July 13, Camden Post 17 had to wait until Tuesday to play in the playin series to determine the No. 4 seed from the lower state in the 8-team state tournament. So the almost week-long layoff was filled with practices, right head coach Tyler Pike? “We didn’t practice a lick,” Pike said. “Me and my coaches talked about it and we decided to take most of the time off. Everyone knows Legion baseball can be a grind, going straight from high school ball. We felt like the guys needed time off, that rest was the best thing for us.”

TOM DIDATO / INDEPENDENT-CHRONICLE Bradwin Salmond and Camden Post 17 earned the fourth and final spot for the American Legion state tournament this weekend at Riley Park.

Post 17 originally traveled to Conway on Tuesday to face Murrells Inlet. Devin Beckley started on the mound and Camden was leading 3-0 after three innings when the game was suspended due to inclement weather. “Devin only threw something like 24 pitches in those three innings,” Pike said. “We decided to come back with Bradwin Salmond and he did the job pitching the final six innings to get the win. “We then started Devin against Horry, and he pitched great,” Pike said. “The scenario really couldn’t have worked out much better for us.”

It ended up being the right move as Camden beat Murrells Inlet 5-2 on Wednesday in the completion of a suspended game and followed it with a 3-2 win over Horry at the Conway High School field to fill out the state tournament bracket.

Pike pointed out his team has been in a number of close games throughout the season and that six of its eight losses have come to Sumter and Chapin. The P-15’s swept Post 17 in their League III regular-season series. Sumter picked up a pair of 4-3 wins and won 10-0 in seven innings in a game that was just 5-0 after five innings.

Post 17, which is 12-8 on the season, will take on upper state No. 1 seed Rock Hill at 9 a.m. on Saturday in the opening game of the 8-team tournament.

“I felt like we hung in there and played both of those teams pretty tough,” Pike said. “And let’s face it, either of those teams could win the state championship.”

“We felt like with the talent we have on this team that we could be playing in the state tournament,” Pike said. “It’s just been a matter of putting things together from game to game.”

Having to play the majority of two games on Wednesday means that Pike and his staff aren’t quite sure how they’re going to handle the pitching in the opener against Rock Hill.

Camden swept Aiken 3-0 in the first round before being swept by Chapin in the second round, even though it led late in two of those games. Pike said the play-in series couldn’t

Camden’s offense is led by Josh Hernandez, who is hitting around .500, and Salmond. Post 17 will be without leadoff batter and second baseman Cam Holley, who has torn meniscus in a knee.

Pitching, defense key to Inman’s return to Riley BY DENNIS BRUNSON dennis@theitem.com

our Junior team.”

Having advanced to the American Legion baseball state tournament in both 2013 and 2014, it was something of a bitter pill to swallow for Inman Post 45 when it missed out on the trip to Riley Park last year. So one of the obvious goals this season was to garner one of the four berths from the upper state in the 8-team tournament, whose winner advances to the Southeast Regional. That mission was accomplished as Inman beat Walhalla 3-1 in a best-of-5 first-round series and followed it up with a sweep of Lancaster in the second round. “We missed out on it (advancing to the state tournament) by one game last year, when we lost to Lancaster,” said Post 45 head coach Steve Skinner, whose team brings a 21-6 record into Saturday’s first game. “This year we were able to keep them out. Our goal was to get back to the state tournament.” Inman gets to open against the defending American Legion World Series champion in Chapin/Newberry Posts 193/24. Post 45 is the No. 3 seed from the upper state while Chapin is the No. 2 lower state seed. The game is scheduled for a noon start. Inman has made its return to state with a relatively inexperienced squad, at least on the Senior Legion level. “We’ve got just three or four returning players (who were starters) from last year,” Skinner said. “We had several move up from

Skinner didn’t have to think very hard about what has been the key to his team’s success this season. “I think our pitching and our defense has kept us in most of our games,” Skinner said. “We’ve won games with our pitchers going a long way, and we’ve played pretty good defense behind them.” Skinner listed his top arms as righthanders Jacob Corn, Josh Stempihar and Hunter Gneisig. Left-hander Jordan Edney has handled the closing role all season. Inman, which finished second in League VI during the regular season, has had a pretty potent offense during the playoffs. It reached double figures in four of its seven games and scored at least five runs in each game. It scored 67 runs overall. Skinner named Mike Elijah, Luke Johnson, Robbie Vess, Gneisig and Clayton Caudell as the top bats in his lineup. If Post 45 is going to make a run through the state tournament and advance to the Southeast Regional in Asheboro, N.C., it will pretty much have to follow the same formula it has all season, according to Skinner. “Our pitching just has to be on,” Skinner said. “We’ve got to continue to play good defense and do the little things that are necessary to win games. When we get people in scoring position we’ve got to be able to get them in things like that.”

PHOTO PROVIDED Michael Elijah, right, and Inman Post 45 will take on defending state and World Series champion Chapin/Newberry on Saturday at Riley Park.

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THE SUMTER ITEM

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2016

Florence eyes 3rd state title in five years

Cody Green (9) and the rest of the Florence Post 1 squad enter Saturday’s American Legion state tournament at Riley Park with an eye on their third title in five seasons.

BY JUSTIN DRIGGERS justin@theitem.com

an earned run all year and closer Brent Herlong hasn’t allowed a run – period.

Even head coach Derick Urquhart admits he didn’t expect his Florence Post 1 squad to be as successful as it has been this year.

“Our team begins and ends with our pitching,” Urquhart said. “Everybody has a set role that they know that we haven’t really deviated from. They come in and throw strikes and eat up innings for us and give us a chance to win each game.”

“Winning a League (II) title, winning two rounds of playoff games and making it back to the state tournament are all goals I thought we could achieve, but I didn’t expect to get 31 wins along the way,” he said. “Our record (31-3) is indicative of the type of team we have – we play the game hard and we never give up. “It’s been a great group of kids that have gotten us this far.” The team is hoping to go even further as it aims for its third state title in the last five years. Florence won the crown in 2012 and 2014 and finished runner-up in the other two seasons. Post 1, the top seed from the lower state, opens up play on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Riley Park against Greenville, the No. 4 seed from the upper state. Post 1 swept Manning-Santee in the first round of the state playoffs before beating Horry 3-1 in the second round. This marks Florence’s 12th straight season playing in the state tournament, and it’s no secret what has carried Urquhart’s group this year – pitching. Post 1 has a team earned run average of 1.32 to go along with a true 4-man rotation on a pitching staff that goes 10 deep. Blake Robinson hasn’t allowed

Robinson (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 18 2/3 IP, 12 K, 5 BB) is part of a starting rotation that includes Bryant Huggins (6-1, 1.77 ERA, 35 2/3 IP, 46 K, 10 BB) along with Weston Rogers (2-0, 1.67 ERA, 37 2/3 IP, 33 K, 10 BB) and Carson Rogers (6-1, 2.08 ERA, 34 2/3 IP, 41 K, 8 BB). Robinson will be at the University of South Carolina Sumter next year alongside Lindsey Robinson, another top Post 1 arm, while Carson Rogers will be at Florence-Darlington Technical College and Weston Rogers signed with Wofford College. Florence also boasts relievers Herlong, Josh Price, Austin Moody and Jack Henry Beasley, all with ERAs under 2.20. Aside from Herlong, who is a rising senior in high school, all are committed to pitch at the next level. Combine that with a defense that doesn’t make many errors and it’s been the recipe for success for Urquhart and company. “We have pretty good speed in the outfield and we just try to make the routine plays and don’t give

MORNING NEWS

up the big inning,” he said. “That’s been the key for us all year. In our losses, there was one inning that kind of snowballed on us and we weren’t able to limit the damage to just one or two runs.” Post 1’s offense has not been quite at the same level for most of the season, though, and for the first time he can remember, Urquhart has had to go with matchups as opposed to a set lineup. Florence’s offense took another step back when senior shortstop Grayson Cottingham injured his shoulder in the series against Horry. Cottingham is leading the team with a .495 average and a .659 slugging percentage. He was tied for the team lead with two homers and ranked second with 28 RBI. “We expect him to miss the weekend so it puts a hurt in a lineup,” Urquhart said. “Anytime you lose somebody of that caliber it hurts, but you give another guy an opportunity to step up. We just basically bumped everybody up a spot in the order and see how we match up.” Lex Tuten, Benj Jones and Will Hardee have been big bats for Post 1 with Hardee driving in a team-high 34 runs. Add in Justin Thompson, Noah Matthews, Cody Green and Lindsey Robinson and Florence still has seven players batting .300 or better. “We just have to put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense,” Urquhart said. “If we start topping balls and popping them up, we’re not going to have success that way.”

Battle-tested Generals aim to keep rolling at Riley BY DENNIS BRUNSON dennis@theitem.com When the Greenville Post 3 Generals started their American Legion baseball season with a 1-6 record, taking a trip to Sumter for the state tournament at the end of July was the furthest thing from their minds. “We were in last place (in League VII), and we were not sure if they were going to take everybody to the playoffs (from the upper state),” said Greenville head coach Austin Lynch. “We thought once we got our pitching going, we’d be OK though.“ Lynch had decided to give some of his front-line pitchers a chance to rest at the start of the season after their workloads in high school or college games. “Once we got them back, our bats started going too,” Lynch said. “We ended up finishing second in our league and then won our two (state) playoff series.”

beat Fort Mill 3-2 in the best-of-5 first-round series and followed it with a 3-2 second-round series win over League VI champion Gaffney.

Luke Fetchko will be unavailable for the first game and possibly his second. Cleanup hitter Nick Burns will not be available for the tournament.

The long series took different routes for Greenville. After winning the first two games against Fort Mill, it lost two in a row before winning the finale at home. Against Gaffney, the visiting team won each of the five games. After losing Game 4 at home 14-12, Post 3 went to Gaffney and won the final game 2-1.

The leading hitters who will be penciled in Saturday’s lineup are Jason Crumley, Ridge Chapman and Justin Grabowski.

Lynch thinks the grueling series victories will help his squad in the 8-team, double-elimination state tournament. “It gave us the opportunity to see some good pitching, better pitching than we did in the regular season,” said Lynch, who is in his sixth year with Greenville, last guiding it to the state tournament in 2013. “Against Fort Mill, we faced two (NCAA) Division I pitchers. And Gaffney had some talented arms too.

And that’s why Post 3 will be in Sumter on Saturday at Riley Park as the No. 4 seed from the upper state against No. 1 lower state seed Florence at 3 p.m.

“To be able to win both of those series, I hope that bodes well for us in the tournament,” he added. “We’ll continue to see the same type of pitching, so hopefully we’re more accustomed to it.”

The Generals bring a 15-11 record into the tournament. After going 9-7 in the regular season, they

Post 3 will be without two key parts of their lineup for the opener. Leadoff hitter and center fielder

“We’ve hit 19 home runs this season, so I guess we’re more of a power team,” Lynch said. “We can be a small ball team when we need to be though.” Right-hander John Coker will start on the mound against Florence. The Blue Ridge High School pitcher tossed a complete game in the series-clinching win against Gaffney, allowing just three hits and no earned runs. The other top pitchers for Greenville are Crumley, a 6-foot-4-inch pitcher from Travelers Rest who is headed to Winthrop, his Travelers Rest teammate Jonathan Ivey and Wade Hampton rising senior Chad Brown. Greenville will also be without closer Michel Sholtis. “We’re just going to try to mix and match and get the best pairings we can get,” Lynch said. “I hope offensively we’ll take more pitches than we did against Gaffney. I would like to see a few more walks. It’s OK to be aggressive when you’re scoring runs, but you need to make them work some.”

SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2016

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL

THE SUMTER ITEM

Chapin/Newberry hopes another WS title run begins at Riley BY JUSTIN DRIGGERS justin@theitem.com What ended in Shelby, N.C., started in earnest at Riley Park last season for Chapin/ Newberry Posts 193/24. And returning head coach Daniel Gregory is hoping his experienced squad can travel a similar, albeit slightly different, road this year as well. C/N won the American Legion baseball World Series championship in 2015 – the first S.C. squad to do so in 79 years. Posts 193/24 went 32-1 with the only loss coming in World Series play. “We didn’t get a whole lot of time to bask in it together as a team,” Gregory said. “We won and then pretty much had to go back to college or high school or our jobs right after that. “But it was a lot of fun with a great group of kids and a great group of coaches. It all started in South Carolina, though, against what we felt like was very similar competition to what we faced in Shelby.” Now the defending champs return to Riley Park to begin their quest again. Chapin/ Newberry will take on Inman at noon on Saturday in the opening game of its state title defense. C/N is the No. 2 seed from the lower state while Inman is the No. 3 seed from the upper state. Unlike last year when Posts 193/24 entered Riley Park undefeated, Gregory’s squad is 19-5 overall this season after capturing the League VIII crown and defeating Hartsville and Camden 3-1 and 3-0, respectively, in the state playoffs. It was a much more difficult road this year; however, as Hartsville defeated C/N in one of the games of the first-round series and Camden had late leads in two of the three games of that series.

TOM DIDATO / CHRONICLE-INDEPENDENT Trey Huber, top, Corey Stone, left, and Ryan Stoudemire are all players returning from Chapin/Newberry’s World Series title team of a year ago as Posts 193/24 look to begin another run on Saturday in the American Legion state tournament at Riley Park.

“I’m kind of glad we’ve had to grind out some games and experience some of the adversity that comes with a loss or two,” Gregory said. “It kind of puts things in perspective and will make you realize you have to work a little bit harder.”

C/N returns eight players from last year’s championship squad that have been key figures at the plate and on the mound. Returning captain Peyton Spangler is batting .425 with 19 runs driven in after taking over at shortstop for Justin Hawkins – the University of South Carolina Sumter standout who captured state tournament and World Series MVP honors last year as well as being the named the AL Player of the Year. Catcher Blake Smith is back and hitting .400 in the leadoff role while Ryan Stoudemire leads the team with four home runs out of the cleanup position. Stoudemire also has a 3.74 earned run average in 21 2/3 innings on the mound. Andrew Livingston is back in the outfield along with Corey Stone while Trey Huber has been a solid mound presence with a 2.94 ERA mostly in long relief roles. Tristan Smaltz, who started the World Series championship game in 2015, returns as one of the top two starters for C/N with a 2.72 ERA in 36 1/3 innings. Smaltz also has 48 strikeouts compared to 12 walks. “We’ve kind of been a team that has relied on different things in different weeks with injuries and just how the games have gone,” Gregory said. “We’ve been able to pitch well and hold the other team down when we had to and then there were other nights where we knew we were going to have to score some runs to win and we did that as well. “Our biggest thing has been that whatever the game plan was going in, we’ve been able to execute it.” Part of that has come with players turning in contributions across the board. Chandler Todd and Tyler White lead Posts 193/24 with 21 RBI apiece and each has homered. White, Bud Snelgrove and Jordan O’Cain are all batting .350 or better. On the mound, White has a 1.65 ERA in 16 1/3 innings while Stone, Stoudemire and Kyle McCrary have all thrown significant innings. McCrary is second on the team with 34 strikeouts.

Braves look to take next step at state tourney BY JUSTIN DRIGGERS justin@theitem.com

at Ninety Six, so hopefully that experience will pay off.”

Experience doesn’t always pay off, but Greenwood Post 20 head coach Mack Hite is banking on it to be a key come Saturday.

The Braves boast 16 players on the roster who are at least seniors in high school and four who are college freshmen. Among the college players are Dylan Burton, who is at Clemson, and John Autrey Yonce, who is at the University of South Carolina Sumter.

Post 20 won its first American Legion baseball state tournament game under Hite last year – and he hopes his Braves are now looking for more. “It’s an experienced group we have,” he said. “I feel like they’re not just excited to be here again, and they’re eager and ready to make some noise.” Hite and his squad return to Riley Park for the second straight year and fourth time in the last five years as the Braves get set for an opening night rematch with the Sumter P-15’s at 7 p.m. The two teams were matched up on the same night and time last year with Sumter edging the Braves 4-2. Greenwood is the upper state’s second seed while the P-15’s are the No. 3 seed from the lower state.

GREENWOOD INDEX-JOURNAL Tannor Byrd is one of the top pitchers and hitters for the Greenwood Post 20 Braves, who look for a deep playoff run beginning on Saturday at Riley Park in the American Legion state tournament.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who aren’t necessarily going to blow you away with velocity, but they like to compete and they go out there every night and give us a chance to win,” Hite said.

“We’re excited to be back in Sumter,” Hite said. “To be playing at this time of the year means you’ve played pretty good baseball all season.”

Pitching has been the most consistent phase of Greenwood’s game this year, with hitting and fielding being spotty at times, Hite said. But the offense has been no slouch as the Braves have scored at least six runs in every playoff game thus far.

The Braves are 18-5 overall entering play on Saturday and captured their fifth straight League VII title this season. Greenwood defeated Union 3-1 in the first round of the state playoffs before sweeping York 3-0 in the second round.

Byrd has been a key leader at the plate along with Payton Smith and Cody Adams – a left-handed bat playing in his third state tournament under Hite. Padgett Sumner, Wyatt Owens, Ryan Franklin have also been keys sparks offensively, Hite added.

“Got a lot of older guys who have been through playoff baseball, whether it was in Legion last year or at their high schools,” Hite said. “We’ve got some kids who played for the state title at Strom Thurmond with me, a couple who won a state championship

“Those guys have really done a great job driving in runs for us along with Burton, who leads us in RBI,” he said. “Those guys have all had great summers, but what matters now is getting those big hits in key situations. That’s what we’re focused on now.”

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Yonce has been a key bullpen contributor for the Braves, who have several collegiate-level arms, including righthander Tannor Byrd, who’s committed to Presbyterian, and left-handers Corbie Long and Henry Cartrett. Long is a freshman at Newberry while Cartrett is committed to USC Aiken.

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