Bishopville downs Dalzell 20-5

By EDDIE LITAKER
Special To The Item

Bishopville Post 29 sent 18 batters to the plate and scored 12 runs in the sixth inning on Thursday to break open a close game and hand Dalzell-Shaw Post 175 a 20-5 American Legion League III defeat at the Lakewood High School baseball field.

Post 29 batters faced three Jets pitchers in the sixth, smacking seven hits but also benefiting from four bases-loaded walks and three hit batters.

Post 175 trailed 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth after Alex Cade led off with a single, took second as Whitey Sanders’ ground ball bounced off the second base umpire and toward short, stole third and scored on a Justin Till ground out. The inning ended in controversial fashion as Sanders was thrown out trying to steal home. Dalzell-Shaw coaches thought a balk should have been called on Bishopville starter Reese Poole, which would have allowed Sanders to score the tying run.

“Clearly their guy balked and the umpire didn’t pick it up,” said Jets head coach David Horton, whose team dropped to 1-15. “We get called out at the plate, and if we’re safe there it’s a 6-6 ball game and we’re still hitting – (we’ve got) momentum and the whole nine yards.

“That kind of took some air out of us but still, that’s not the difference in the game, really. After that, we still have to battle, we still have to compete. We made a few errors, we had some walks, and we ran into some pitching problems. We’re just kind of short on arms.”

Post 175 scored two runs in the second as Till and Keith Hayden both drew walks from Poole to open the inning. Till scored an a Zach Hubbard ground out and a Jonathan Motte grounder plated Hayden, pulling the Jets within one at 3-2.

Two more Jets scored in the fourth with Mike Waddell drawing a leadoff walk, taking third on a Hayden single to right and crossing home ahead of Hayden on an Aarin McDonald single, making the score 5-4.

With the win, Bishopville improved to 11-5 in League III play and 15-10 overall. With Camden’s 8-7 win on Thursday over Sumter, Post 29 trails the P-15’s by 2 ½ games and leads 9-8 Camden by that same margin.

Dalzell-Shaw plays host to Cheraw tonight while Bishopville entertains Camden in a pivotal game for both.