Rebels survive late game scare to remain undefeated in region play

PROSPERITY, S.C. — The Mid-Carolina Rebels varsity baseball team had a late game scare against a region foe but were able to squeeze out the win. The Rebels(17-7, 9-0 region 3-AA) defeated Fairfield Central(7-15, 3-6 region 3-AA) by the score of 4-3 at home on Friday night to remain undefeated in region play.

Mid-Carolina managed to survive a late game push by the Griffins to get one step closer in capturing another region title. The two region opponents met for the second time in a four-day span. The Rebels were able to squeeze out a 2-0 road win on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Griffins looked to get revenge in the rematch on Friday, April 25th on the campus of Mid-Carolina High School.

Lawson Lawrence got the start on the mound for the Rebels and he had a great outing. The right-handed pitched six strong innings, gave up one hit and six strikeouts. The home team Rebels struck first in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Mid-Carolina would struggle to get anything going on offense in the third inning, but were finally able to add some runs at the bottom of the fourth inning.

Starting center fielder Landon Wicker was able to drive home a base runner with sacrifice fly to extend the Rebels lead. Then, senior Kaden Myers drove another run in with a RBI single to make the score 3-0. Fast forward to the bottom of the sixth inning, Myers would bring home in another score with RBI single. The Rebels would leave two base runners stranded after having the bases loaded, but still would go into the top of the seventh inning with a 4-0 lead.

Luke Milling would take over on the mound at the top of the seventh inning in hopes of closing the game out for the Rebels. Things begin to fall apart for Mid-Carolina after two routine ground balls ended in errors for the home team and landed two base runners for the Griffins. Then, Milling would hit a batter and load the bases. Of course, head coach Lindsey Stribble would take a mound visit to calm his troops in attempt to get them back focused again.

A sacrifice fly would drive in one run for the visitors to cut into the Rebels’ lead. The next Fairfield Central batter found a gap in the outfield to score two more runs and make things much tighter. Mid-Carolina would make a pitching change and bring in Hunter Hall to try to get the final two outs and secure the win. He did just that and Rebels would escape the late game push from the Griffins.

Mid-Carolina will have two make-up games as they head into the final week of the regular season. Then, they will start their journey to possibly reach the AA Upper State finals again and avenge last year’s heartbreaking series loss to Oceanside Academy.