Southside Christian wins Game 1 in AAA baseball title series 7-2 over Oceanside Collegiate behind Boleman

  Mt. Pleasant—It wasn’t the 20 strikeout type of game Southside Christian School senior left-handed pitcher Carson Boleman enjoyed in the championship game of the AAA baseball state championship series against Oceanside Collegiate Academy last season, but when he left the game in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s Game 1 in this year’s title series, he had thrown only 74 pitches and the Sabres were up 6-2.

            SCS eventually won 7-2 to take a 1-0 lead, and Bowman is now available to pitch on Saturday should the best-of-3 series be extending to an if game.

First though, Southside Christian can defend its title on Thursday when it plays host to OCA beginning at 6 p.m.

          After the game, Southside Christian head coach Scott Freeman shared his thoughts.

          “We had some uncharacteristic things happen in the third inning when they scored two runs,” said Freeman “We were a little erratic. Our shortstop rarely makes an error and Carson got a little erratic, but he battled back nicely. The home plate umpire told me that he missed what would have been a Strike 3 right before the 2-run single, and I thought it was nice to have the home plate umpire admit he missed a call, and after all, no one is perfect.

         “The best thing about getting four runs in the fifth inning, it allowed us to take Carson out at 74 pitches, and he now will be available to go on Saturday if there is a potential Game 3. We hope not, but if there is a third game he will be ready to go.

         “We feel great about winning Game 1 on the road, but we are taking nothing for granted in Game 2 at home. They did a good job of running the pitch count up on Carson tonight, and they are a talented and well-coached team. They are not going to quit, and we expect a battle on Thursday.”

        Freeman said the Sabres are likely to start left-hander Bennett Candler on Thursday.

        Former Hanahan High School star catcher Britt Reames has been the head coach at OCA for three seasons.

        “He (Boleman) didn’t have 20 strikeouts tonight like he did against us last year, and I thought our guys prepared well to face Boleman,” said Reames. “Boleman did a good job, and we worked to get his pitch count up, and we would have liked to have had him stay in the game a little longer.

       “We just need to step up and do better on Thursday because Boleman will not be pitching and we need to swing the bats well. I felt like the team competed well today. We need to hit well. If we can win Game 2 it’s all about the best man winning in Game 3.”   

      With 10 or so Major League Baseball scouts on hand, the 6-foot-4-inch, 210-pounds Boleman touched 94 miles per hour a couple times but mainly stayed between 91 and 92 on his fastball. He had seven strikeouts and allowed a couple of earned runs for the first time in a while.

     The Sabres went up 2-0 in the top of the first inning and never trailed in the game. Jacob Wiggs reached on an infield single, and then Boleman reached on a walk. Both runners advanced to second and third on a balk. Beckett Deserio brought in Wiggs on a sacrifice fly, and Boleman made it 2-0 when he scored on a wild pitch.

    Oceanside came back and tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the third. Ethan Palyok led off, reaching base on an error. Centerfielder Barrett Kucaba reached base on a 2-out walk to put runners on first and second. Both runners advanced on stolen bases. Then Cash Crone hit a sharp single through the infield that scored Palyok and Kucaba to tie the game.

    From that point on, Southside Christian outscored OCA 5-0 to take Game 1.

     In the fifth, SCS put the game away with a 4-run outburst. Junior Kaden Graham and Wiggs started off the inning with back-to-back walks resulting in a pitching change for the Landsharks. A single by Boleman loaded the bases with no outs. Then Deserio drew an RBI walk to put the Sabres up for good at 3-2.

    Then senior CJ Aubuchon delivered a single that scored Wiggs and courtesy runner Sawyer Boleman to make it a 5-2 game. A sac fly by Will Swanson scored Deserio to make it 6-2.

    The Sabres added an insurance run in the seventh.

  Christopher O’Leary was the starting pitcher for the Landsharks, and he worked four innings. He was relieved by Arthur McFadden. OCA also used Hudson Morris and Noah Long on the mound.