Baseball: Gators Hold Off Lexington 12-11, Advance to Play Carolina Forest

River Bluff withstood a seventh inning flurry by Lexington to eliminate the Wildcats and advance to play Carolina Forest in the District Four bracket of the AAAAA-Division I Playoffs.

River Bluff jumped out on top in the third inning Monday night on the road when Ab Wilkerson led off by reaching first on an error. Then, Andrew Rye was hit by a pitch, moving Wilkerson to second. Banks Alexander singled to left, advancing both runners to fill the bases. Dominick Norton drew a walk that brought Wilkerson home and put the first run on the board. Next, Walker Godwin singled in Rye to put the Gators up 2-0. Sam Turner hit into a double play but scored Alexander to give River Bluff a 3-0 lead.

Lexington would respond in their half of the inning, though, on two two-run homers to take the lead 4-3.

The momentum would swing back in favor of the Gators in the fourth, however. Ashley Powell hit a leadoff single, followed by a single from Mac Raines. Next, Wilkerson laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Rye picked up a walk to load the bases. Then, with two outs, the Gators regained the lead when Norton doubled a line drive to right field, scoring Powell and Raines and moving Rye to third. Godwin brought in Rye on a single and Turner singled in Austin Glover, who was pinch running for Norton. Mason Iser kept the runs coming on yet another single, scoring Godwin and advancing Jeremiah North, who was pinch running for Sam Turner, to second. Back up at the plate for the second time in the inning, Powell singled again, scoring North and moving Iser to second. When the dust finally settled on the top half of the fourth inning, River Bluff had built a 9-4 lead.

The Gators added two more runs in the fifth, when Godwin drove a two-out triple to center field, scoring Alexander and Norton, increasing the lead to 11-4

Lexington picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth, and Alexander would add a twelfth run for the Gators on a Wildcat error in the top of the seventh.

Heading into Lexington's final at-bat, River Bluff had a seven run cushion at 12-5. That proved to be enough...but only by one run.

A sacrifice fly gave the Wildcats their sixth run but also their first out of the final inning. The next batter struck out, leaving just one out for the Gators to secure the win and move on in the playoffs. Three singles, an error, and a hit-by-pitch later, the seven run cushion had deflated to a tenuous one run lead with the tying run at third, the go-ahead run at first, and a 1-2 count at the plate. The Wildcat batter put the next pitch in play to shortstop Spencer Moore who flung the ball across to Norton on first for the out - the final out - and a huge sigh of relief mixed in with cheers of joy from the Gator faithful who made the trip across town.

Peyton Hewitt was the starter from Monday night's Gators pitching committee. The senior gave up two hits and struck out one in two scoreless innings. Ray Kastner then came on in relief, giving up four runs on three hits and striking out one in two-thirds of an inning. Dalton Corley then took the mound, pitching three innings in relief, surrendering one run (0 earned) on three hits and striking out five, earning the win. Walker Godwin closed out the game, giving up six runs (two earned) on five hits, and striking out two over one and a third innings.

Gator hitting:

The win advances River Bluff back to Carolina Forest, who lost on Monday night in extra innings to Sumter 4-2. The Panthers handed River Bluff its first loss of the postseason on Saturday 3-0. The game will be held at Carolina Forest on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (tentatively).