Mid-Carolina wins two of three games at Sandlapper Classic

GILBERT, S.C. — The Rebels were one of two Newberry County high schools to participate in the Sandlapper Classic Tournament over spring break. Mid-Carolina played in three games over two days and were able to win two of the three games. The Rebels(15-7, 7-0 region 3-AA) defeated Spring Valley(7-12, 3-4 region) by the score of 5-3 on Tuesday, April 15th to close out the tournament.

Mid-Carolina chose to continue to play ball instead of taking the full week off for spring break. The two day tournament started on April 14th. They defeated White Knoll 3-1 in the first game, but fell 4-2 to Camden in game two after having an early lead in the game. The Rebels closed it out with their third and final game on April 15th against the Vikings.

Luke Milling got the start for Mid-Carolina. He got off to a shaky start with a walk and gave up an early hit that put two runners on base for the Vikings. Then, he had a balk that lead to a run being scored but limited the damage and got the Rebels out of the inning with just one run being scored.

At the plate, Mid-Carolina had a hard time getting things going in the first and second inning. They couldn’t overcome the early 1-0 deficit, but of course the Rebels eventually figured it out.

Mid-Carolina put four runs on the scoreboard at the top of third inning to give themselves their first lead of the game. Blake Mills hit a RBI double to drive in the first two scores. Davis Ruff matched his teammate’s RBI double with one of his own to drive in two more scores. The Rebels took a commanding 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the third inning.

Spring Valley quickly responded to cut into the deficit at the bottom of the third inning. They were able to get a runner on base then later drive him home off an infield error by the Rebels on what shoduld’ve been a routine ground ball. Mid-Carolina still held a 4-2 lead going into the fourth inning.

Milling continued his strong outing on the mound by not giving up anything in the fourth and fifth innings. He would finish the game with five strong innings pitched, allowed four hits, had four strikeouts and only allowed two runs to be scored.

Mid-Carolina added another run behind a RBI single from starting center fielder Landen Wicker. Junior Jaquon McKinney came in for relief efforts on the mound at the bottom of the sixth inning for the Rebels. He retired all three batters he faced and had two strikeouts. The junior ran into some trouble at the bottom of the seventh inning though after walking two batters and giving up a hit that had the bases loaded with no outs for the Vikings who were looking to make a late game push.

Hunter Hall comes out of the bullpen for the Rebels to close the deal though. One run was scored on a sacrifice ground ball, but Hall limited the damage by retiring all three batters that he faced and shut the door on any comeback chances by Spring Valley.

Mid-Carolina will resume regular season play on April 22nd against Fairfield Central on the road in a region showdown. They have only three more games left in the regular season and have a chance to go undefeated in region play for the fourth consecutive year. The Rebels could also capture their fourth consecutive region title as well.