SMC Completes Sweep On The Road

Swainsboro, GA – Four SMC pitchers combined to scatter eight hits and hold East Georgia College to just one run, and the Pioneers broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the tenth to win game two of a three game series, 4-1. The game began on Saturday but was halted after nine innings due to darkness and was completed on Sunday afternoon.

SMC (15-5) got on the board with a single run in the fourth. With one out, first baseman Tyler Jackson (Robert E. Lee Academy) singled to right. Luke Tollison (Laurens Academy) followed that up with a walk, and freshman catcher Ben Boykin (Fort Mill HS) drove in Jackson with a base hit to right for the game's first run.

But EGC (10-13) got that run back in the bottom of the inning, when the Bobcats led off the inning with a home run off SMC starter Dylan Griffith (Barnwell HS) that just cleared the left field fence. The home team threatened to do more damage in the inning, as they loaded the bases with two outs, but Corey Rhoney (East Burke, NC HS) relieved Griffith and forced a groundout to first to keep things tied at 1.

Rhoney kept the home team off the scoreboard with four solid innings, and Hunter Rice (Boiling Springs HS) relieved him by getting the last out of the eighth inning, a big strikeout with two Bobcats on base, then throwing a scoreless ninth.

The game would remain tied until the tenth inning, when center fielder Travis Burnside (Laurens HS) tripled to right to lead things off. Jackson followed with a walk, and Tollison broke the tie with a sharply hit single to left. Boykin doubled down the line, scoring Jackson and putting runners at second and third with no outs. Seth Neely's (Rock Hill HS) ground ball to third prevented the runners from advancing, but was able to reach on an error when the first baseman couldn't come up with a short hop throw, loading the bases with the Bobcats yet to record an out in the frame. Dacen Cash (Stephens County, GA HS) picked up Jackson with a sacrifice fly to center for the first out of the inning. A double play ball ended the Pioneer threat, but not before they had taken a 4-1 lead, leaving them with three outs to pick up the victory.

Rice earned the win for the Pioneers, and Jake Long (T.L. Hanna HS) recorded the save with a scoreless tenth.

Boykin was 3 for 5 to lead the Pioneer offense, and Reggie Weatherford (Lake City HS) picked up a pair of hits.       

In the final game of the series, EGC scratched out a run in the bottom of the first off of SMC starter Ryan Gunther (Stratford HS), but Gunther and the Pioneer bullpen held them scoreless the rest of the way, sparking an 8-1 win for SMC to complete the sweep.

Offensively, the Pioneers got things going in the third, when Weatherford drilled a base hit to right, Parker Hudson (Mauldin HS) walked, and Burnside lined an RBI single to right center. Jackson chased Hudson and Burnside home with a two run double, putting the visitors up, 3-1. SMC tacked on two more runs in the fourth, as Weatherford tripled down the line in right, scoring shortstop Champ Rowland (Wade Hampton HS), who had singled. Weatherford scored when Hudson's bloop double dropped into shallow left, and the Pioneers led 5-1. 

In the fifth, Boykin and Neely singled back-to-back with one out, and Cash's base hit to right center scored another run and put runners at first and third. Rowland's sacrifice fly to right scored Neely with the seventh run of the game for the SMC. The Pioneers would score one more run in the seventh on another sacrifice fly by Rowland for the final 8-1 margin of victory.

Gunther (2-1) earned the win with five solid innings, allowing four hits – all singles – one walk, and striking out four. Logan Pemberton (Lewisville HS) struck out four in two innings of relief.     

Weatherford, Hudson, Burnside, and Cash each collected a pair of hits to lead the charge for the SMC offense.    

SMC will begin region play this coming weekend with a four game series at USC Lancaster at 1 pm on Saturday and Sunday.  

Spartanburg Methodist College has 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes colleges in the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The College is in its 100th academic year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.
 
For more information please contact athletic director Mark Perdue at (864) 587-4237.