Baseball: Gators Fall to Byrnes in OSI Championship 4-3

After being shutout by Berkeley in Game 1 of the Opterra Solutions Invitational on Wednesday, River Bluff's baseball team responded with two big wins. On Thursday, the Gators took care of Batesburg-Leesville 4-1, setting up a matchup with Blythewood, which had outscored its opponents in the first two games 26-6, to see who would advance to Saturday's championship.

River Bluff handed Blythewood its first loss of the tourney on Friday afternoon, 4-0, sending the Gators to the Championship game on Saturday to face the 2-1 James F. Byrnes Rebels.

The championship game remained a scoreless affair through the first three innings. Byrnes scored a run in the top half of the fourth, but River Bluff responded with three of their own in the bottom half to take the lead.

Then, in the fifth, Byrnes evened it up with two more runs.

In the seventh inning, Byrnes managed a run to take a late lead and River Bluff was unable to produce one during their at-bat, giving the Rebels the 2026 OSI crown.

The Gators finished the tourney with a 2-2 record. Next up is Gilbert at home on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.