Lexington, River Bluff Win Naturchem Invitational Openers
It was a clean night of high school baseball for the co-host teams of the Naturchem Invitational.
Both Lexington and defending tournament champion River Bluff opened play with shutout victories Thursday.
The Gators posted a 4-0 win over Wren as Beau Hollins allowed just one hit and struck out four in five innings.
Walker Mitchell drove in two runs, Zack Cowart had a solo home run and Thomas Powell had two hits and an RBI to lead the River Bluff offense.
In the Day One finale, the Wildcats blanked Bishop England 10-0 in five innings. University of South Carolina commit Reese Marcum struck out nine and allowed one hit in four innings.
“Once he settled in and did what Reese can do, he was very dominant,” Lexington head coach Brian Hucks said. “I’m not sure how many strikeouts he had, but he gave up the one hit. Nine strikeouts. So, I’m proud of him. He’s a guy who’s been in the wars for us since his freshman year, so he’s got to pitch some big innings for us this year.”
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth. Braden Fournel put Lexington on the board with a 2-run double, followed by a RBI single by Tyler Floyd and sacrifice fly by Caleb Warren.
After a scoreless top of the fifth thrown by Zach Miller, the Wildcats scored six in the bottom half to end the game on the 10-run rule. Nathan Hall belted a leadoff homerun over the leftfield fence and Fournel added to his RBI total with a two-run single.
The bases were loaded when Brandon Cromer ended the game by sending the first pitch into rightfield for a three-run double.
“I thought we were pressing early and we kind of gave away some bats,” Hucks said. “I thought our guys stayed resilient. When they finally relaxed and settled in, they swung the bats like we felt like we could and they put up a couple of crooked numbers there … and they were able to relax and play the game.
Lexington returns to action Friday at 2:30 p.m. against Mauldin, a 4-1 loser to Eastside. River Bluff will play host to Brookland-Cayce at the same time.
Dorman 13, Brookland-Cayce 10
The opening game of the Naturchem Invitational was an offensive slugfest.
The Cavaliers and Bearcats combined for 27 hits, 23 runs scored, 22 runs driven in and seven home runs. Mason Turner led the way by going 3-4 with two home runs and six RBI and Skylar King had a home run and RBI.
The Bearcats trailed 9-1 after four innings before scoring six runs in the sixth and three in the seventh.
Dorman led the entire game as Braedon Harrison had two hits and four RBI, including a two-run double and solo home run. He was also one of four Cavaliers who homered along with Hudson Lee, who had three RBI and struck out four for the victory, Chas Welch and Owen Turner, who both drove in two runs.
B.J. Etheredge struck out six in three innings for the loss.
Other Baseball Games
Georgetown 3, Airport 2
Softball
Lexington 14, Pelion 0
Riley Ford had three RBI and she and Sarah Gordon homered to lead the Lady Wildcats in the opening game of the Varsity Blues Tournament.
Peri Rouillard went 3-4 and Sam Craig, Jessica Senn and Livi Warren all had two hits to lead the Lady Wildcats.
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