Fort Mill Post 43 in playoffs, playing for 3rd place

After locking up a spot in the American Legion baseball playoffs, Fort Mill Post 43 is battling for a third place finish in the regular season.

Sitting at 6-8 on the season heading into the July 4 holiday weekend, Post 43 dropped a doubleheader to Rock Hill Post 34 in that past week. That sealed the League V title for Rock Hill. Fort Mill lost 5-0 and 5-2 in both ends of the doubleheader when their bats failed to show up.

While getting good performances on the mound from Clay King and Jack Corkery, Fort Mill failed to give either any run support with just six hits total in both games.

In the first game, Post 43 got just two hits, one from Josh Evans and one from Greg Izzo. Izzo broke up a potential no-hitter for Rock Hill’s Trent Autry with a single in the fifth inning. Autry would give up a walk and another hit in striking out seven Post 43 hitters.

King pitched a complete game for Fort Mill allowing five runs, four earned, on eight hits.

In the second game, Post 43 played better but their bats remained stagnant with just four hits compared to nine for Rock Hill. A couple errors in the second inning allowed Fort Mill to take 1-0 lead before Rock Hill scored three runs on four hits in the third to regain the lead and never look back.

Rock Hill added two more runs on two hits in the fourth. Evans got one of Post 43’s four hits and Drake Durham went 2-4 driving in the only Fort Mill run of the game. Ryan Reyes also got a hit, going 1-2 in the game.

Earlier in the week, Post 43 split a doubleheader with York Post 66, falling 5-4 and winning the second game 3-0.

In game two, Clay Helvey pitched a complete game two-hitter striking out 10 York batters. Izzo would go 2-3 with a double and two RBI to propel the Post 43 offense. Helvey would also help his cause going 1-3 and Evans also had a double going 1-3.

In game one, highlights for Post 43 consisted of solo home runs from both Evans and Tristan Broome. Izzo again went 2-3 with a couple RBIs in the loss.

Fort Mill will face either Union County or Greenville in the first round of the playoffs depending on how Post 43 finishes the regular season to determine the final seeding.

This story was originally published July 1, 2016 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Fort Mill Post 43 in playoffs, playing for 3rd place."