James Island walks off Lexington, 5-4, in eight innings

David Shelton • May 27, 2025

James Island – Game one of the Class AAAAA Division baseball state championship series lived up to the hype as James Island defeated Lexington, 5-4, in eight innings to move within a game of clinching a state title for the second straight year.

 

Both teams are defending state champions. James Island won the AAAA state title last season while Lexington won the AAAAA championship. Both schools were bumped up to the new division by the South Carolina High School League.

 

Senior Stow Rogers delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth to lift James Island to a 5-4 win. The 29-3 Trojans will look to win the title at Lexington on Wednesday night.

 

“We obviously felt good with Stow coming to the plate in that situation,” said James Island coach Matt Spivey. “He’s a senior and seniors do what seniors do. He’s a kid that works really hard and it’s good to see the hard work pay off in a big situation.”

 

Rogers’ single to left with the bases loaded and no outs ended a back-and-forth battle that both teams had chances to win.

 

Lexington got going early against James Island freshman starting pitcher Brayden Easterling, a surprise starter by Spivey. Lexington catcher Toby Sobieralski opened the game with a homerun to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Sobieralski finished the night with three hits.

 

“It worked out for us,” said Spivey of the decision. “The freshman gave us three innings and kept us in the game early.”

 

The Trojans answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first, getting a two-out RBI double from sophomore second baseman Trip Ostergard. A line drive double down the left field line scored Jake Amman, who reached on a walk.

 

Another solo homerun, this from sophomore Christian Spivey, gave Lexington a 2-1 lead in the top of the third.

 

James Island had another answer in the bottom of third. After Amman tripled to left, Taj Marchand delivered a sacrifice fly to tie the game 2-2.

 

The Trojans earned their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Amman doubled in a run to make it 3-2 but the Trojans left the bases loaded.

 

This time it was Lexington’s chance to answer and the Wildcats did in the top of the fifth on a Lincoln Hill sacrifice fly to center, tying the game at three.

 

In the top of the seventh, Lexington loaded the bases with no outs. Sobieralski singled, his third hit of the game, and reached second on a passed ball. He then reached third on a ball in the dirt, leading to Intentional walks to load the bases.

 

A ground ball to Marchand resulted in the first out at home but Landon Blight delivered a single to right to score a run and give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead.

 

Ostergard relieved Cooper Jones on the mound and got his team out of further damage.

 

Marchand led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the line in left and moved to third on a wild pitch. Ostergard tied the game with a single to left. After a flyout, Ostergard was picked off by Lexington southpaw Brayden Studebaker.

 

In the eighth, Lexington put two runners on with an out for Spivey, who was struck out by Colt Hernandez, James Island’s fourth pitcher of the night. Hernandez got USC signee Brandon Cromer to flyout to center, ending the threat.

 

“Big moment there,” Spivey said. “Really proud of the way he responded.”

 

Braden Deprill opened the eighth for James Island with a single. Brady Dantzler bunted for a single. Pinch-hitter Collin Anderson walked to load the bases, bringing up Rogers. The College of Charleston signee ripped a single to left for the game-winner.

 

“The bottom of the order came through for us,” Spivey said. “We felt good about our chances if we could get back to the top and we did. If we leave the bases loaded and don’t score there, we don’t win the game.”

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By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kaylynn Turner Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month Lake View — Kaylynn Turner is a senior who plays softball and volleyball at Lake View High School . Turner said she started playing volleyball in the seventh grade, but softball is her favorite sport, which she started playing in the 9 th grade. On the volleyball court, she played all around as a utility player and played left field in softball. Being a two-sport student athlete brought opportunities. Turner says this about team play, “My favorite part is being on a team with friends, forming new friendships, and the support from family.” In the classroom, she carries a 4.07 GPA, and she says that after high school she plans to major in Exercise Science with an end goal of a career in Occupational Therapy, or as an athletic trainer. While she has not ruled out continuing softball at the next level, if she gets that opportunity, her favorites teams are Coastal Carolina , USC , and Florence Darlington Tech .  For all her athletic and academic accomplishments, Turner has been chosen the “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits, in various subjects, that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The NETC is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Currently, Turner is enrolled in two dual credit online courses offered by NETC. She already completed many basic requirements for her freshman year of college. She has focused on taking key classes for her major, like Medical Terminology, History, and Spanish. She added that she “already took care of many first-year classes and hopefully this puts me a semester ahead when I start college.”. When asked about what NETC did to help her, Turner said it “helped her develop important time management skills, especially while playing sports, attending high school, and taking college level classes online through the NETC. “Dual-enrollment classes really taught me the difference between in-person classes, versus online classes which prepared me for what’s I should experience in in college,” said Turner. When asked about the online class experience, Turner said the experience was a “confidence boost” that enhanced her time management skills. “The online classes were doable when I thought they weren’t,” she said. “Before taking online classes, I was more of a procrastinator, and I learned to be more on top of my work.” Turner recalled her favorite time playing softball “In the first game of the lower state playoffs this past season, I played a long ball off the fence and I was able to throw it back to the infield and we got the lead runner out.”

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By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kason Herlong Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month  Lake View — Kason Herlong is a senior two-sport athlete at Lake View High School , where he earned all-region honors in two seasons as the starting quarterback on the football team. He was recently named the Class A Baseball Player of the Year by the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association and Herlong has signed a baseball scholarship to attend North Greenville College . He has also earned Class A all-state honors in baseball by the “The High School Sports Report” for the past three seasons. Herlong batted .418 with two home runs and 17 RBI’s this past season. On the mound he was 7-1 with 80 strike-outs in 50.1 innings of work. He had a .556 ERA also. Of the two sports, Herlong favors baseball. Baseball is a sport he has played since he was first enrolled in T-Ball. Herlong was also chosen to represent Lake View in the 2025 North-South all-star baseball game. He has a very bright future ahead of him in the sport of baseball. In the classroom he carries a 5.23 GPA. He has been taking dual credit online courses through the NETC since he started the ninth grade. Just a sample of his completed college course work includes College Algebra, Biology, English 1, English 2, Computing, and Economics. For all his athletic and academic accomplishments, Herlong has been chosen the “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits in various subjects that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The ”NETC” is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. With his high diploma earned, and numerous college level courses completed with NETC, Herlong should start college as a sophomore when he reports to campus at the end of the summer. He plans to major in Accounting in college. “Taking NETC online courses had a huge impact, including being better at prioritizing my time,” said Herlong. “How you do one thing, is how you do everything. And it helps keep me focused on meeting priorities and deadlines in both academics and athletics,” said Herlong. When asked about the impact on starting his collegiate career, he commented, “By taking these online classes now, I’ve got extra credits completed to put me one step ahead. I’ve been very blessed to have this opportunity.” Herlong said that while baseball is his favorite sport, he also enjoyed playing football. As a two-sport athlete in high school, and dual enrolled for online college classes through the NETC, he feels better prepared to meet the challenges ahead of him as a student athlete at North Greenville University. Herlong has a favorite memory from his baseball career. ”This season, we won against Latta for the Lower State Championship,” he said. “Last season, we got beat by Latta for the lower state championship. We came back this season and turned that around by beating them twice on their field. Those two wins advanced the team to play for a State Championship.”
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