Robert E. Lee wins SCISA 2A baseball state championship

ORANGEBURG – How sweet it is.

The Robert E. Lee varsity baseball team defeated Colleton Prep 5-2 at Orangeburg Prep field Thursday night to claim the SCISA 2A championship.

The Cavaliers won the best-of-3 series 2-1 after winning 15-0 on Monday and falling 1-0 on Tuesday.

REL was finally able to bring home the hardware after falling in the 2A championship two years in a row.

“To win it (got) the monkey off our back a little bit,” Cavaliers head coach David Rankin said.

REL starting pitcher Austin Windham threw 15 strikeouts in the win and gave up zero walks, five hits and two earned runs. Windham struck out the first nine batters he faced.

“I got a great team and I know they’d hit,” Windham said. “(I had to) just keep pitching.”

Cavaliers third baseman Hunter McGee had four hits and two runs batted in on the night.

“This morning, I knew it was a big day,” McGee said. “I squeezed in some BP (batting practice) time. I got my dad to throw a couple buckets (of balls) to me. That’s what we’ve been doing all week, and it really paid off.”

War Hawks starting pitcher Brad Strickland recorded seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings and gave up five walks, five hits and three earned runs. Relief pitcher Jesse Murdough gave up two hits and one earned run in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

REL started off the scoring in the top of the third inning when McGee plated second baseman Jenkins McCullum with a single to make it 1-0.

Colleton Prep tied up the game in the bottom of the fourth inning when leftfielder Dawson Sweat scored shortstop Conner Morris with a single to make it 1-1.

The Cavaliers answered in the fifth when McGee plated shortstop Dustin Kennedy with a single to make it 2-1.

REL scored two more runs in the sixth when Strickland walked Kennedy with the bases loaded to score pinch runner Blane Hopkins and Murdough threw a wild pitch that allowed pinch runner Jacob Baker to score from third base to make it 4-1.

Colleton Prep responded in the sixth when third baseman Jordan Crosby scored Morris with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2.

REL added an insurance run in the seventh when Josh Kirven scored on a wild pitch from Murdough to make it 5-2.