It wasn’t a pretty regular season for Lexington Post 7, but after a week of postseason play, they found themselves as the last county team standing after knocking out West Columbia Post 79 by a score of 6-4.

West Columbia got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning due to a few Lexington errors. Mason Turner reached base on an error and after stealing second base, advanced to third after the throw made its way to the outfield. One batter later, Josh Raines made the errors hurt with an RBI single past third base to score Turner for the game’s opening run.

The lead didn’t last more than an inning. In the top of the third, Lexington responded. Ethan Etheridge led off the inning with a walk and eventually scored when Brunson Price’s base-hit single led to a throwing error and tied the game at one. Marshall Carnahan’s hit to the shortstop resulted in a run when the throw home couldn’t get Price out at the play. Lexington led 2-1 after three. 

Neither team scored again until the sixth inning when Lexington added to their lead. Patrick Evans reached base on an error and made it to second on a heads-up baserunning play when he realized the bag wasn’t covered. Wyatt McPherson moved Evans to third with a bloop single in between first base and right field. With runners on the corners and no outs, Jake Torbett brought Evans home with an RBI single. The damage, however, would be minimized to just that after West Columbia pitcher London Spires forced a strikeout and a pair of ground outs.

West Columbia threatened to cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Peyton Starkey launched a lead-off double off the left field wall. Connor Wood drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs and trailing by only two. However, Lexington pitcher Scott Hardy got out of the jam by forcing a pair of pop-ups and a strikeout. 

The game blew open in the top of the seventh as Lexington earned some crucial scoring cushion going into the final half inning. It started with walks drawn by Etheridge and Price. Carnahan’s ground out to first moved the runners to second and third. After Evans was intentionally walked to load the bases, McPherson recorded another RBI after he smoked a line drive up the middle to score Etheridge. Torbett recorded a single on the next at-bat to score Price and after Gavin Creede got hit by a pitch, Evans scored to give Lexington a 6-1 lead before a 6-4-3 double play ended the inning and gave West Columbia one last frame to try to save their season.

Despite the five-run deficit, West Columbia fought their way back to make it a dramatic final half inning. Raines smacked a line drive single on the first pitch and moved to second after a hit by pitch. Raines stole third base and then scored after an errant throw to third. A run was later driven in after a Starkey bloop single to cut the deficit to three. Corbin Wright hit a single to load the bases and bring the game winning run to home plate. Turner recorded an RBI after a fielder’s choice to cut the Lexington lead to 6-4. Connor Wood walked to load the bases and with two outs, Blaine Redmond stepped into the batter’s box with a chance to help West Columbia pull off the shocking comeback. 

However, Evans, who came in to pitch for Lexington, forced a pop-up to the catcher to secure the 6-4 win and end West Columbia’s season.

“We came together and started playing very very well,” West Columbia coach Dargan Lybrand said. “It’s one of those things where we had a great team. They played hard and did good, but we could accomplish more.”

Lexington coach Drew Towery was happy to see his team get over the hump and win a close game after a tough postseason opening loss.

“It’s just resilience, you know? We went out Monday night and played a good Easley team and got walked-off on which means we played competitive baseball but you know, I just told the guys after the game ‘Look, we can still do this whole thing but it’s going to take everybody in the dugout and all the stuff like that’. Just like to this point, it’s taken everybody, every arm we’ve had, every stick we’ve had and guys have played different roles and you know, I’m just proud of the kids, honestly, for the resilience,” Towery said.

Lexington will now have to travel to Camden to play the league winners on July 15. In order to advance to the state tournament, they will have to beat League 3 champion Camden twice in a row.