Gaffney sweeps Post 43 out of the American Legion baseball playoffs

It was a matter of it could go wrong, it did for Fort Mill Post 43 American Legion team as they had their first losing streak of the year at the wrong time, being swept out of the second round of the playoffs in three games to Gaffney Post 109.

Fort Mill Post 43 lost their best of five second round series 3-0 to Gaffney the same week it made history by being ranked No. 1 in the state Legion standings for their first time ever.

“We knew going into the series that Gaffney was well coached and we were going to face some great pitchers on the mound,” said Post 43 head coach Tom Skula. “In order for us to come out on top we needed to play a complete game every night. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to execute at the plate and in the field as we would like. We were already playing at a disadvantage with 11-12 kids for the series while Gaffney had their full 18-man squad.”

Gaffney won the first game 11-0 by the mercy rule and despite better efforts by Post 43 in games two and three, Fort Mill lost those games 4-1 respectively in game two and 7-6 in 10 innings in game three. In the first two games, Post 43 got a total of 10 hits and scored just one run. In the third game, they had 14 hits despite the loss.

In the deciding game at Gaffney, the two teams battled back and fourth before Fort Mill ran out of pitching late in the game as Post 109’s Ashby Smith walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th was the deciding factor in the game as Fort Mill finished the season 14-6.

Fort Mill took an early 1-0 lead off a double from Daniel Gueldner to open the game, before Joey Tepper sac fly scored him in the first inning. Gaffney would go ahead 2-1 in the fourth, but the fifth inning saw Post 43 score four runs on four hits to take a 5-2 lead. Justin Kerosetz and Tepper would single in the inning and Alex Stennett would walk before Greg Izzo would drive in Kerosetz. James Mulvaney would drive in Tepper on a sac fly and Lawson Otte would hit an RBI single to score Stennett.

Despite the rally, Fort Mill would allow Gaffney to score three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5. The game would go into extra innings from there. In the ninth inning, Fort Mill would regain the lead as Tepper would hit a solo home run to put Post 43 up 6-5, but once again Gaffney would tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth.

After shutting down Fort Mill in the top of the tenth, Gaffney would put the nail in the coffin for Fort Mill’s season in the bottom of the 10th. Fort Mill will lose key players in Stennett, Izzo, Tepper and Noah Griffin going forward as they will be to old to play next year.

“I can’t thank Joey, Greg, Alex, and Noah enough for everything they have done for this program for the last two years,” Skula said. “From winning the league title this year to making a state tournament appearance for the first time in 16 years last year. I wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors. I want to thank my assistant coaches Travis Collier, Jonathan Romano and Josh Corley for everything they have done this year to continue to make our program a success. I am excited about where this program can go in the next couple of years. There is a lot of upcoming talent coming through the local high schools.”

Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM