Rock Hill’s run at junior legion baseball tourney ends

Rock Hill Post 34 Junior Legion’s state tournament experience ended Monday evening with a 5-1 loss to Florence Post 1.

Florence took a 2-0 lead thanks to a stolen base and passed ball, before Rock Hill halved the deficit courtesy of Grant Willson’s RBI double in the fourth inning to make it 2-1. But Florence’s three runs in the fifth went unanswered, giving Post 1 its second straight elimination game win, and sending Rock Hill home.

Post 34 entered the state tournament 21-1 and won its opener Saturday against Johnsonville, but fell into the consolation bracket at the state tournament Sunday after a 13-4 loss to hosts Inman.

Inman tacked on seven runs in the seventh inning to gloss the scoreline. Rock Hill faces Florence Post 1 at 3:30 p.m., on Monday in an elimination game, while Inman, which knocked off tournament top-seed Marlboro on Saturday, faces Aiken at 7 p.m.

Inman scored in the first inning and had the bases loaded in the second, only for Rock Hill to escape unscathed thanks to a clever pick-off at first base by Daniel Oates and Grant Willson.

But Inman broke through in the third, scoring three to grow the lead to 4-0. Rock Hill pegged the tournament hosts back with two in the bottom half of that frame, Willson doubling to score Conner Edkins and Wes Bostic and make it 4-2.

Neither side scored in the fourth or fifth innings, before Inman added two in the sixth to make it 6-2. Inman’s seven runs in the seventh essentially decided the game, Rock Hill’s pair of runs in the bottom half not nearly enough to overturn the deficit.

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Rock Hill’s run at junior legion baseball tourney ends."