Batesburg-Leesville Defeats Philip Simmons 8-5 to Claim Class AA Crown

Jay Hendrix

Contributing Writer

Columbia -  The Batesburg-Leesville Panthers jumped out to a 6-2 lead after two innings and never looked back as they rolled to an 8-5 win in the Class AA State Championship’s third and deciding game at Founders Park in Columbia. The B-L faithful made the 30 mile trek to Columbia and created a home field advantage for the Panthers as they would celebrate their first baseball championship since 1949 and fourth overall. With an announced paid attendance of 1,271 the B-L fans made the Gamecocks home their own for the evening.

           The Panthers were led by junior Braydon Hallman who started and picked up the win as he pitched four innings and struck out nine while allowing three runs. Hallman also led the Panthers at the plate going 1-3 with three RBI include a huge two run double in the second inning. 

           The Iron Horses led off the first with Alex Romanski getting hit by a pitch, stealing second and scoring on an RBI single to go up 1-0. In the bottom of the first Reese Boehnke scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Hallman to tie the game. The Iron Horses’ starting pitcher Nolan Clifford would struggle with his control early with three walks in the first inning, including a bases loaded walk to make it 2-1. B-L would add another run on a sacrifice fly from Gavin Parrish which scored Jack Bouknight to make it 3-1 at the end of the first.

Philip Simmons would plate a run in the second as Peirce Mullen hit a seeing eye single up the middle and scored on a long double off the wall by Romanski to make it 3-2. 

In the bottom of the second the Panthers resumed their assault and would run Clifford from the game with just one out. Landon Soper led off the inning with an infield single to deep shortstop to bring up the top of the order. Soper would steal second and Boehnke then laid down a perfect bunt towards third base for a single to put runners on the corners with no outs.  Hallman would then double to leftfield to score two to make it 5-2. Jack Bouknight’s RBI single up the middle would make it 6-2 and close the book on Clifford’s outing as he turned the ball over to Charlie Helms who would go the distance.

           In the third the Iron Horses would again manufacture a run after a leadoff walk to Kyle Bachmann was followed by a double down the leftfield line by Daniel Scarth to put two on. A looping single by Daniel Ebeling drove in a run to make it 6-3 and leave runners on the corners. Hallman would then battle his way out of the inning without any further damage thanks to fly outs as the Iron Horses left the bases loaded.

The game would remain 6-3 until the fifth inning. B-L would turn to Soper in the top of the frame and the change of pace keep the Iron Horses off balance with a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the frame the Panthers got back on the board with two more runs. Carter Bouknight led off with a single to centerfield and Preston Smith drew a walk. An error, on what looked like a double play ball, allowed a run to score and extended the inning. A fielder’s choice on another ground ball allowed the Panthers to extend the lead to 8-3 at the end of five.

In the top of the sixth the Iron Horses would plate two runs of their own to make it 8-5 as Tajaun Gibbs drew a leadoff walk and the run scored on a two out single by Helms.   Scarth would later drive in Helms but again the Panthers would work out of the jam as the Iron Horses left two runners on base to end the inning as Hallman made an acrobatic catch from his shortstop position on a ball down the leftfield line. In the top of the seventh the Iron Horses were unable to rally as the Panthers allowed just one baserunner before Hallman hauled in a soft liner for the final out as the Panthers won 8-5.

On the night Scarth led all hitters as he went 3-4 with two RBI and Romanski went 2-3 with an RBI. For B-L seven different players collected a hit each with Hallman leading the way with three RBI. Hallman and Gavin Parrish each had doubles while Scarth and Romanski had doubles for the Iron Horses.