Doubleheader sweep over York puts first place within Fort Mill's reach
On a warm and humid night in York, Fort Mill Post 43 team swept a doubleheader from York Post 66 setting up an important American Legion baseball game in the regular season’s final week.
The doubleheader sweep of York put Fort Mill at 9-2 in League V play and they need to beat Union Post 22 this week to win the league title. Post 43 is a half-game behind first place Rock Hill Post 34 in the standings. Fort Mill owns the tiebreaker over Rock Hill, but needs to win out. Both Fort Mill and Rock Hill have clinched spots in the playoffs, which begin July 9.
Fort Mill defeated York 9-3 in game one and 5-4 in the nightcap. Post 43 pushed its record to 10-2 overall with the wins.
“This was a sensational week,” Post 43 head coach Tom Skula said.
“This is the kind of baseball that we knew we were capable of playing and I'm glad that it showed up this week with these games meaning so much when it comes to seeding. We had tremendous energy in the dugout and I couldn't ask for more from our guys. Playing two seven-inning double headers is tough on any team. Being able to stay mentally focused on a humid muggy night shows the true character of our team. We put ourselves in a very good spot to go claim the League V championship.”
In the first game, Fort Mill relied on strong pitching from Logan Stone and nine hits in the 9-3 win. Both Joey Tepper and Alex Stennett had three hits and three RBI each in the first game.
Post 43 used a big second inning when it scored four runs on three hits to separate them from York. Justin Kerosetz, who went 1-4 with two RBI, hit an RBI single to start the scoring, before Tepper hit a two run double and Stennett hit an RBI single to give Fort Mill the 4-0 lead.
Post 43 added two runs in the fourth and two in the seventh to cap off the win. In the seventh, Tepper hit another double, scoring Daniel Gueldner and Stennett would follow by driving in Tepper.
In game two, Fort Mill again jumped out to a comfortable lead, but York battled back to tie the game at 4-4 in the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh, Gueldner would single with two outs to get things started and Kerosetz would then drive him in to give Post 43 the 5-4 lead.
On the mound, Isaac Bierne pitched four innings of four hit ball allowing three runs, while walking two and striking out two for the win. Greg Izzo would come in the game in the bottom of the seventh to get the save for Post 43.
“We had a lot of good contributions from different people,” Skula said. “Our pitchers were able to keep us in each ball game all night. Logan pitched his best game of the year for us. Colin Conroy threw two quality innings for us. Isaac pitched four strong innings for us to lead the way for Greg to slam the door down in the seventh inning.”