Chiefs beat Beckham but lose to Chapin

By John Smithson

The North Myrtle Beach Chiefs played their first baseball SCHSL playoff game last Saturday at The Hank and beat Lucy Beckham 5-2.

The Bengals scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning off of Gabe Priest. A leadoff double and sacrifice put the Lucy Beckham runner on third and he scored on a groundout to second.

The Chiefs got a run back in the bottom of the first after Sawyer Smith walked and Kaden Lank singled. Smith tried to score on the throw into the infield but a relay to the catcher nailed him before he could score. Lank scored on a wild pitch.

The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fourth, although the Bengals had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the fourth before Priest worked out of trouble with a strikeout and groundout to third.

The Chiefs scored two runs in the fourth. Porter Anglin singled and Priest bunted for a single moving Anglin to second. Bannon Hill ran for Priest.  Andrew Mundy bunted the runners up one base and Peyton Gallup was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Riley Wiggins singled to drive in Anglin, and Hill scored on a groundout to third by Smith.

Priest retired the Bengals in order in the fifth and sixth innings. The Chiefs scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Priest struck out and Mundy singled to center. Gallup sacrificed Mundy to second and Julian Garver ran for Mundy and went to third on a wild pitch. Wiggins singled to drive in Garver. Smith reached first on an error with Wiggins going to third. Wiggins scored on a Lank single for a 5-1 Chiefs lead.

Priest walked two batters with one out in the top of the seventh inning and Smith relieved him. Smith walked a batter and one run scored on a fielder’s choice grounder to short before Smith struck out the last Bengals batter for the 5-2 win.

The Chiefs were back to The Hank on Monday for a game with the Chapin Eagles, the number three seed in the district tournament.

Sawyer Smith was on the mound for the Chiefs and worked out of first inning trouble but couldn’t stop the Eagles offense after that. Chapin’s Luke Cromer hit a long homer over the centerfield fence with two outs in the top of the second and a 1-0 Eagles lead.

Two more runs scored in the Eagles third on an infield hit to short, a single to left, a grounder to first and single to left.

Cromer was back up in the fourth inning and after avoiding a called third strike that had the Chiefs battery moving toward the dugout and seven pitches, Cromer lined another home run over the left field fence for a 4-0 Chapin lead.

Trevor Mitchetti hit a leadoff home run to left in the bottom of the fourth, but Eagles pitcher Cooper Derrick struck out three Chiefs to close that inning.

The Eagles added another run in the fifth on three hits, and three more runs in the top of the sixth off of Fisher Nichols. The Eagles loaded the bases on a hit batsman and two walks, then scored a run on a wild pitch before a single drove in two more runs for an 8-1 lead.

The Eagles added a run in the top of the seventh while the Chiefs were scoreless and  without a hit after Jack Williams singled in the fifth. The final was 9-1.

Eagles pitchers Derrick and Mac Berry combined for a two-hit one run game and struck out eleven Chiefs. The Chiefs bats cooled off, and Chiefs pitching gave up nine runs on eleven hits and walked six.

The Chiefs had to pull things together for another game on Wednesday with Lucy Beckham back to The Hank.