McBee Wins Class A Baseball Title Over Lake View 8-1, As Herlong Closes Out 32-Seasons As Wild Gator Head Coach
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Florence—McBee won their 5th Class A baseball state championship since their first one in 1981, with an 8-1 win over Lake View, at Francis Marion College on May, 31st spoiling the final game of Wild Gator head coach Kip Herlong, who is retiring after 32 seasons at the same school.
McBee head coach Josh Tiller told the HSSR, after the big win, “This is an amazing feeling right now, and it is great to see all the hard work that we put in throughout the season pay off with a state championship,” said Coach Tiller. “We are super proud of Aiden Hughes going all seven innings on the mound. He had a gutsy performance tonight.
“Tonight, we were finally able to get some hits with runners in scoring position and that makes a big difference in any baseball game,” said Coach Tiller. “Other than Hughes on the mound, other seniors playing for the final time tonight (for McBee) were Landon Tedder behind the plate, headed to Coker College, Cohen Reid played third base, and Colton Wallace played at short. These guys have provided a lot of leadership for our program, not just tonight, but for several seasons. We are super proud to have had them be a part of our program.”
Coach Tiller said his team being able to get on the board first, with three runs in the third inning was a turning point in the game. “Being able to get an early three run lead, it made it easier to turn around and play defense,” said Coach Tiller. “Once we got momentum the game seems to go our way the rest of the way.”
Hughes, tossed a five hitter in the 8-1 win for McBee. And he is still deciding on a next level program, told the HSSR, after the game, “I am blessed to have great teammates who support each other, a coaching staff that works hard to teach us the game, and we also have a great community as you saw from the crowd tonight,” said Hughes. “It was important for me being a senior to have the ball in my hand tonight. It was a pressure situation to be in, but my team mates got us an early lead and they played good defense behind me.
“I have been a member of the McBee varsity since the 9th grade and I will remember this game for the rest of the life.”
Coach Herlong exits a Hall of Fame career at Lake View (633-170) that began with his first state championship in 1995. Few will ever forget Lake View’s five straight state titles between 1997 and 2001, a true dynasty era for the program. Two other state titles were won in 2016 and in 2021. The 2021 was Herlong’s 8th title and it was very special because his son Kason, was on the team as an 8th grader on his way to a great career at Lake View. On five occasions, including his final game in coaching, the Wild Gators have finished as runners-up.
So, with a crowd of players, present and past, and family members, and fans gathered around him after the disappointing loss, Coach Herlong shared some thoughts: “It has been a great ride in such a great community and you look up in the stands tonight and you see such a great crowd,” said Coach Herlong. “It’s like this in every sport at Lake View. This community is very supportive of all the teams at Lake View. We all support each other.”
“We have met with failure and we have met with success, and we treat them both the same and move forward,” said Coach Herlong. “Our motto this season was to “Keep Moving Forward” to keep one foot in front of the other and keep going.
“We had some bad things happen tonight, early on, and that hurt us, but we kept working hard but it didn’t work out for us tonight,” said Coach Herlong. “It would have bene great for our players and fans had we won but things do not always turn out like you hope they might.
“We had a couple more errors than we are used to having tonight, and I felt like the pressure got to us tonight and it just didn’t work-out,” said Coach Herlong. “We had an error here and there, left some runners on base early that we could not bring in, and that is not what you want to happen in a state championship but that is what the Lord willed and we will just have to accept it and move on.”
Coach Herlong said in retirement he will now be able to follow his son’s baseball career (Kason) at North Greenville University. “Because I was coaching, I missed a lot of Morgan’s (older daughter) softball games at North Greenville when she played. Now that I am retired my wife will make sure we are there to see Kason play as often as possible.
“It was a real blessing to coach my son for six seasons, and he worked hard, and he is all about the community. and his teammates, so we looking forward to following his college career,” said Coach Herlong. “The other night when all the players I had been blessed to coached at Lake View, showed up for our final home game, and stayed for a group picture, that just shows you what kind of wonderful people they are. That moment meant a lot to me.”
This writer covered all 8 state championship games won by Coach Herlong and the Wild Gators through the years. It will be an adjustment coming to baseball games next season at Lake View and not seeing Coach Herlong in communication with his brother Chad, a long- time assistant, when things like a pitching change might be needed.
After two scoreless innings, McBee plated three runs in the bottom of the third. Manning Tolson reached on an error, and then Cohen Reid reached on a fielder’s choice as Manning forced out at second. With two out JJ Melton drew a walk.
Landon Tedder then singles on an infield hit to load the base with two out. Hughes then singles on a line drive hit to left field to score Tedder and Melton to make it 2-0. Reid makes it 3-0 when he scores on a wild pitch.
Lake View got one-out back-to-back singles from Bryce King and Ian Capps in the top of the 4th but both runners were stranded at first and third as the next two Wild Gator batters hit short balls to the shallow outfield to retire the side.
In the bottom of the 4th McBee made it 4-0. Manning Tolson reached on a two-out double to right field. Cohen Reid then singled him to give the Panthers a four-run lead.
Lake View scored their only run of the game in the top of the 5th inning. Holden Lee reached on a hit-by-pitch. Two batters later Herlong singled to advance Lee to second. Braden Borders then draws a walk to load the bases. Lee scored on a deep sacrifice fly ball by Chris McGill to center field that might have been a grand slam in a high school park to make the score 4-1 after five innings.
In the bottom of the 5th McBee made it 5-1. Tedder draws a one-out walk and then Hughes reaches on a hit-by-pitch. Hayden Griggs loads up the bases when he reaches on an error. Colten Wallace then hits a sacrifice fly RBI that brings in Tedder from third base.
In the bottom of the 6th inning McBee adds three insurance runs. Tolson, Reid, and Evan Norris all collect singles as the first three batters of the inning. Tolson’s pinch runner (T Wright) scores on an error to make it 6-1 while Reid and Norris advance to second and third on the error. Reid then scores on a pass ball to make it 7-1. Norris scores on a sac RBI sac fly by Tedder to make the final score 8-1.
For the game, McBee had seven hits and the Panthers took advantage of three Lake View errors to produce several of their 8 runs. The Panthers were led at the plate by Tolson and Reid who each had two hits with Reid also collecting one RBI.
Lake View had five hits in the deciding game three against McBee. Capps led the way with two hits. Herlong, Bryce King and Holden Lee each contributed one hit. Lee scored the team’s lone run.
