North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By John Smithson
The NMB Chiefs baseball team got back on the winning track last week sweeping the Myrtle Beach Seahawks in a three-game series 10-0, 22-0 and 12-3.
The Chiefs began their winning streak on senior night last Monday at The Hank. Sawyer Smith started a two-run rally in the bottom of the first with a double. Porter Anglin ran for Smith and went to second when Kaden Lank was hit by a pitch. Trevor Mitchetti singled in Anglin and Lank eventually scored on an error.
Gabe Priest walked to open the Chiefs second and was sacrificed to second. With two outs the Chiefs loaded the bases on two more walks and two runs scored on additional walks by Myrtle Beach pitching for a 4-0 lead.
Sawyer Smith held the Seahawks to one hit and struck out ten in his five innings on the mound. The Chiefs ended the game early with a six-run bottom of the fifth inning. Luke Breeden singled to start things and moved to second on a ground out by Jake Frick. Gabe Priest walked and Espen Thomas doubled to left driving in Breeden with Priest moving to third.
Josh Shemanskis singled and drove in Thomas and Priest for a 7-0 Chiefs lead. Riley Wiggins ran for Shemanskis and Vinny Esposito walked. Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Lank hit the ball to the pitcher who threw the ball away, allowing Esposito, Anglin and Wiggins to score and the Chiefs celebrated their 10-0 walk-off win. Lank was the top RBI guy with four even though he didn’t get a hit.
The Chiefs were in Myrtle Beach for game two of the series. Another strong pitching effort by the Chiefs as Gabe Priest gave up two hits and struck out eleven in four innings and Jake Frick pitched one inning with two strikeouts and no runs.
The Chiefs scored one run in the first on singles by Smith, Evan Steudl and Anglin for a 1-0 lead. The Chiefs added three more runs in the top of the second. Mundy walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Gallup’s bunt single scored Mundy after an error. Shemanskis ran for Gallup and scored on a Wiggins single. Smith walked and Wiggins eventually scored the Chiefs fourth run on a catcher’s error.
Priest struck out the side in the Seahawks second. The Chiefs added another run in the third on two singles after two were out and it was 5-0. The Chiefs went back out in the fourth inning and added five more runs for a 10-0 lead after four innings. A Gabe Priest single drove in Mitchetti and Mundy hit a grand slam home run scoring Steudle, Anglin and Bannon Hill for the 10-0 lead.
The Chiefs then scored twelve runs in the top of the fifth. The Chiefs loaded the bases on a single hit batsman and error. Seven straight walks followed and it was 17-0. An error scored a run and a Frick double and singles by Mundy and Gallup made it 22-0 before he was picked off second to end the top of the fifth.
The Seahawks were three up and down and the Chiefs won two 22-0. Andrew Mundy had six RBIs and Frick drove in three runs in the game.
Last Thursday the Chiefs were back home and quickly scored a run in the first on Sawyer Smith’s double and Lank’s RBI single. Mundy struck out the side in the top of the second.
The Chiefs put an eight on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Priest walked and Mundy‘s sacrifice was muffed by the pitcher. Gallup loaded the bases on a bunt single. Priest scored on a Wiggins ground out. Smith was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Two runs scored on a Lank single and two more came across on a Mitchetti single for a 6-0 lead. The Chiefs scored three more times in the inning with Seahawks errors and RBI singles by Priest and Gallup contributing to the 9-0 lead after two innings.
The Chiefs got their tenth run in the bottom of the third and held a 10-0 lead going into the top of the fifth. The Seahawks spoiled the ten-run rule scoring three runs in the fifth. The Chiefs only got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth, so it meant the teams played on.
Myrtle Beach was scoreless in the top of the sixth and seventh and the Chiefs 12-3 score ended the series with an offensive show of 44 runs scored and only three scored against Chiefs pitching.
The Chiefs had their last region game Monday and coach BA Alderson expected to see their best pitcher Parker Reavis on the mound. “He’s their Monday guy so I assume he’ll throw. They probably won’t leave him out there more than five innings though.” Reavis was the winning pitcher in the first Panthers victory over the Chiefs.
Now it’s on to the playoffs. “It looks like we will finish in second place. No way we can finish first no matter what happens with Carolina Forest. They will be the number one seed out of our league, and we’ll be the number two seed. Because Carolina Forest is big 5A and the rest of us in the region are 5A division II, we should get one of the four top seeds in the lower state, and that means we’ll play at home. That’s important.”
I asked how his team reacted to the rough week with St. James. “It was tough for us. If we could have taken two out of three from them, there was a slim chance we could have won the region by sweeping Myrtle Beach and beating Carolina Forest. But we responded well. We had a good week against Myrtle Beach. The bats came back and we scored some runs. Hopefully we can continue to do what we did moving forward,” Alderson concluded.
