LEXINGTON – Coming off its 5A upper state championship season, Blythewood baseball kicked off its 2020 in the 12-team NaturChem Invitational Tournament with the intention of picking up where last season left off.
The Bengals opened the tournament held at the Lexington and River Bluff baseball fields last weekend with a 6-2 victory over Dorman Friday. They followed up with a 3-1 walk-off win over Wren Saturday and a 7-7 tie with Camden Sunday.
Against Dorman, Ty Dooley’s 2-run single to take a 3-2 lead on the Cavaliers. Dooley, the only Blythewood multi-hitter, went 2-for-4.
Landon Lucas pitched five innings, giving up two runs on two hits, striking out seven and walking one.
Against Wren, the Hurricanes were up 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh with one out when Colton Harman and Alex Nevils drew walks to set the table for Jansen Stokes. Stokes took an 0-1 pitch deep to right field for a walk-off 3-run home run to seize the win.
Kevin Steelman started on the mound for the Bengals and worked four innings. He gave up a solo home run in the second inning. He gave up two hits and struck out three.
In a five-inning game against Camden to conclude the tournament, Blythewood took a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the third before the Bulldogs picked up 3 runs in that inning and four more in the fifth.
Dooley and Muluken Hass had two hits apiece for the Bengals.
Davis Wright started for Blythewood and gave up three runs on six hits, striking out six and walking one.
Blythewood, which played West Florence in its season opener Wednesday night, travels to T.L. Hanna tonight. The Bengals travel to Greenville Saturday to play Mauldin at Fluor Field.
