Legion baseball mercy rules Andrew Jackson, forcing all-or-nothing state title game
Let’s run it back.
In a not-so-quiet display of offense — a dominance that was sorely missed in Game One earlier this week — Legion Collegiate has forced a Game Three in the 2A baseball state championship series after a mercy-rule, 11-1 win over Andrew Jackson on Friday night in Chester.
In so many words, the two teams are back where they started: Yes, that means fans on Monday will see the same pitching matchup from earlier this week (AJ’s Kyle Percival vs. Legion’s Xavier Pelzer) — which produced the thrilling pitcher’s duel AJ and Legion fans are still talking about.
The only differences? Game Three will be played at neutral site Lancaster High School at 7 p.m. — and whoever wins that one will be crowned as state champions.
“They maxed out their schedule,” Legion head coach Devon Lowery said of his team in an interview postgame. “You know, they’re playing on the last game of the season for the championship. And that’s what you want for your seniors, how they should go out their senior year. That’s what you want as a first year program — to be able to set a standard for kids to come to know that every year is championship ball expected. And if you come here, that’s the expectation.
“I’m just proud of that bunch tonight, the way they battled and the way they took care of business. And we’ll see what happens on Monday.”
Legion seemed determined to correct the offensive woes that led to its loss in Game One. And the team from Rock Hill started early.
After escaping the top of the first unscathed and not allowing an Andrew Jackson run despite the bases being loaded, Legion scored three in the bottom of the first: A Devin Parks single drove in William Spang. Then an AJ error sent in Ethan Belk and then Parks scored on a wild pitch. 3-0.
Then Legion broke the game open over the next few innings:
▪ There was the bottom of the second, which featured back-to-back-to-back hits from Parket Helm and Kollin Crepeau and Hunter Fryzowicz to extend the score to 5-0.
▪ There was the bottom of the third, where Legion scored three more runs via a walk with the bases loaded; a wild pitch that saw Colby Guy steal home; and another Crepeau hit that sent Cody Craig home. 8-0, Legion.
▪ There was the bottom of the fourth, which saw Jack Killelea smash a towering solo home run over the center-field wall. 9-0.
▪ And then there was the bottom of the fifth, when the Andrew Jackson right fielder lost a pop fly in the lights and saw the ball flop to the ground which ultimately sent in Legion’s final two runs. 11-1.
The game was called after that.
“(There was) good preparation in BP the practice before,” said Legion starting pitcher Joey Hylinski after Friday’s game. The junior threw five strikeouts and allowed four hits in 4.0 innings of work. He also threw less than 61 pitches — meaning that, in accordance with South Carolina High School League pitch limit rules, he’ll be available to throw on Monday night if his team needs him to.
Hylinski added of his team: “They knew they had to get the bats hot because that’s what’s going to win us games. Pitchers are going to do their thing, and we just need to play all together, and that’s what happened tonight.”
Andrew Jackson came into Friday night having not allowed a run in 21 innings. Head coach Mike Lucas told The Herald postgame that Legion beat his team “soundly” in Game Two, but that he has faith his team will be ready next week.
“They played a great ballgame,” Lucas said of Legion, adding, “We’ll flush this, and we will get ready over the weekend. We’ll be ready Monday. You can count on it. We’ll be ready Monday.”
Legion lost the coin toss postgame and thus will be the away team for Game 3 on Monday. AJ will be in the home dugout.
Neither team has won a baseball state championship in their respective histories — which means, no matter what, history will be made early next week.
So again, and for one final time, let’s run it back.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 10:40 PM.
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