BLYTHEWOOD – The runs came early for Blythewood and Lexington in the opening game of the 5A Division 1 upper state championship series Tuesday night at Blythewood stadium.
The 2024 5A champion Wildcats and Bengals scored two runs apiece in the first inning. Lexington added a run in the second inning, another in the third, and pitcher Reidar Carlson held off a late Blythewood rally in the Wildcats 4-3 victory over the Bengals.
“They got the hits when they needed. It’s a very good club,” Bengals head coach Travis Poole said. “When you have the opportunity to get some hits, and when you have runners in scoring position, you’re going to do well. This game, I’ve been doing it so long, it comes down to eliminating free passes and getting timely hits, and we just didn’t get it done tonight.”
The best-of-three series goes to Lexington tonight at 6 p.m.
“Thing about it, it’s two out of three, and we’ve got to win the next two,” Poole added.
Blythewood (24-6) fell behind early.
Leadoff batter Toby Sobieralski reached second base on an infield error, moved to third as Christian Spivey batted, and scored when Spivey grounded out.
Brandon Cromer made it 2-0 on a solo home run over the centerfield fence.
Blythewood starting pitcher Bowman Rummel settled down and got Lincoln Hill to ground out and Logan Blight to fly out to retire the side.
The Bengals got those runs back in the bottom of the first inning.
Leadoff batter Macon Leppert reached on a 2-base error and Carlson hit Alex Myers to put runners at first and second. Jackson Bottar hit a bunt single, and an infield error enabled Andrew Blackwell, courtesy runner for Leppert, to score and put Myers at third and Bottar at second.
After Amare Counts grounded into a fielder’s choice that put Myers out going for home, Sergio Melendez also hit into a one-out fielder’s choice that scored Bottar to tie the game 2-2.
With two out, Counts at second and Melendez at first, Johnny Collins struck out to retire the side.
Lexington broke the tie with Graham Coleman’s solo homer over the rightfield fence in the top of the second, and took a 4-2 lead with a run on two hits in the third inning.
The first inning was Lexington’s only shaky defensive moment behind Carlson, but Blythewood got a run on two hits in the fifth inning, and may have gotten more were it not for Lexington’s infield defense.
Porter Rummel singled to lead off the fifth, Sammy Franklin reached on an error, and Leppert singled to load the bases with nobody out.
Myers drove in the Bengals only run of the inning with a sacrifice fly that drove in Rummel and made it 4-3. The rest of the inning went downhill for the Bengals.
With Franklin at second and Navy Strickland running for Rummel, Lexington picked off Franklin at second for the second out.
With only Strickland on base, Bottar singled to leftfield, but Strickland overran second base and got picked off going for third base to end the inning—and end a possible game-tying opportunity.
That was the last chance Carlson and the Lexington defense would allow for Blythewood to turn the game around. Carlson walked one in the sixth, but Lexington sat down the rest on groundouts and flyouts. In the seventh inning, Carlson struck out Porter Rummel, walked Franklin, and Leppert and Myers grounded out to end the game.
“Reider was really good,” Lexington head coach Brian Hucks said. “He kept his pitch count (90 pitches) down, he pitched for contact and that’s what we want because typically we play really good defense. Early on we let him down a little bit with our defense but he stayed composed and for a sophomore his maturity is incredible.”
The series turns to Lexington tonight, where a Wildcats win would clinch it, and a Blythewood win would force a deciding game Saturday at a neutral site.
The winner of the series plays the James Island-Stratford winner of the lower state championship series for the 5A Division 1 state championship. James Island beat Stratford 6-3 Tuesday.
Upper state Championship Series Game 1
Lexington – 2-1-1-0-0-0-0 – 4, 6, 3
Blythewood – 2-0-0-0-1-0-0 – 3, 6, 2
WP: Reidar Carlson, 7 IP, 6H 3R, 1ER, 2BB, 2K.
L – Brandon Cromer 2-2, 2B, HR, 2 RBI. Toby Sobieralski 2-4, 2B. Graham Coleman 2-3, HR. B – Jackson Bottar 3-3.
District 1 Championship Saturday
Byrnes – 1-0-0-0-0-0-1 – 2, 5, 2
Blythewood – 0-1-2-0-4-1-X – 8, 10, 0
WP: Johnny Collins, 6 IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 5BB, 8K.
BYR – Connor Crenshaw 2-4. Blake Collins HR. Jack Bailey 2B. BLY – Chance Johnson 2-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI. Jackson Bottar 3-4 2B, 3B. Amare Counts 2-4, 2 RBI. Johnny Collins 2B.
