Chapin-Newberry wins on 10-year anniversary celebration of the 2015 World Series

NEWBERRY — It was a day of celebration for the Chapin-Newberry program on Friday, June 27 at Smith Road Complex on the campus of Newberry College. The American Legion summer baseball organization celebrated their 10-year anniversary of winning the American Legion World Series title in 2015. The players and coaching staff of the 2015 team was in attendance to see the current Chapin-Newberry(4-5, 0-4 league play) win their third consecutive game after defeating the Joanna Hornets(5-8) by the score of 3-2 in nine innings.

The night started with the celebration activities beginning at 6:30 p.m. The team was introduced and honored in front of big crowd of the supportive sports’ fans in Newberry County and the surrounding areas. Justin Hawkins, the 2015 World Series MVP, and Daniel Gregory, head coach in 2015.

“It was awesome and so good to see some of those guys. Some of them are still my closest friends and I talk to them everyday. Some of them I haven’t talked to in a couple of years. It was pretty cool to reconnect with them but then I looked up and said ‘shoot we have to go play a baseball game now.’ It just goes to show you that you can accomplish a lot whenever you come together and learn how to win as a team instead of singular player. We weren’t the most talented team but we knew how to win and wanted to win it together,” said Chapin-Newberry head coach Ryan Stoudemire.

Tyler Stephenson got the start on the mound for Chapin-Newberry and he found himself in some early trouble as the Hornets quickly got the bases loaded. Stephenson was able to get out of the jam and didn’t allow a RBI hit to keep the visiting Hornets off of the scoreboard.

Chapin-Newberry were able to capitalize off of their good plate appearances in the bottom of the first inning, and added two runs to the scoreboard.

Starting first basemen Bobby Gummere hit a RBI double to score the two runs and give his team a 2-0 lead heading into the second inning.

Both teams were scoreless in the second inning, but Joanna responded at the top of the third inning. Hayden Lake was able to bring two runs in for scores and tied the game, 2-2, heading into the fourth inning.

Both bullpens pitched well throughout the game and kept things close for their squads. Chapin-Newberry finally broke the scoring drought at the bottom of the sixth inning. Maddox Floyd was hit by a pitch to reach base and made his way around the bases with a sacrifice bunt to advance him and a throwing error that brought him in for a score. Chapin-Newberry took a 3-2 lead and that would be enough to hold Joanna for a season sweep after defeating the Hornets 8-7 on Tuesday, June 24.

“That’s a really good group over with a lot of ball players who have experienced the next level of baseball so they know how to play the game a little bit differently and they are coached very well. You can’t say enough good words about Coach Lake. He’s done this for so long and is really good at what he does for a reason. Same thing for Coach Stribble, who has been really good at the high school level for a longtime. I am proud of guys and they[Joanna] didn’t scare for lack of a better word. They just went out there and played a good gamer,” said Stoudemire.

The Hornets had six hits and was only able to score two runs as they lose back-to-back games for the first time since getting off to a 0-4 start to the season.

“You learn from these games. I thought we were going to get something out of that first inning, but they made a good play to get out of the inning. We left a bunch of guys on base and we ended up with six or seven hits but just didn’t take advantage. You have tip your hat off to them. They got themselves out of situations,” said Hornets head coach Stuart Lake.

Chapin-Newberry will play on June 30 and July 2nd at home before the Fourth of July holiday break. The Hornets will hit the road to face West Columbia Post on July 1st.