Late-inning homers lift Post 114
By R.G. Greene
rgreene@gtowntimes.com
A pair of home runs and the performance of relief pitcher Timmy Wilson rallied the Georgetown American Legion baseball team at Murrells Inlet on Friday night.
Trey Altman and Cody Byrdic belted ninth-inning homers and Wilson pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to claim the win as Post 114 claimed a come-from-behind 9-8 victory.
"We're hoping this can be a wake-up call for us," said Georgetown coach Jeff Gregory, whose team improved to 8-5 overall and 4-3 in League II. "It had been a tough week for us, we'd dropped two games in a row and had lost some momentum. I think (Friday's win) will help us regain some of that."
Post 114 appeared to be headed for its third straight loss, trailing by six runs after eight innings of play. But they made their last at bat count, getting RBIs from Josh McElwee and Tyler Vick to cut Murrells Inlet's advantage to four.
Altman took care of things from there, tying the game at 8-8 with a grand slam. Byrdic then added a two-out solo shot that gave Georgetown its final margin.
"Once we tied the game, we felt like we could win it," Gregory said. "When things are clicking like they were (in the ninth inning) you gain a lot of confidence.
"We haven't been hitting the way we were early in the season. But that inning shows what we're capable of doing. We need that to carry over and get our offense going again."
Wilson allowed two hits and walked none to earn his first win of the season.
"He did an excellent job," Gregory said. "The way he pitched sparked us. He didn't give (Murrells Inlet) anything and kept us in the game."
Altman had three hits to go with his four RBIs and Trey Thames also had three hits. McElwee finished 2-for-4 and drove in two runs.
"We had 14 hits in the game, but until the ninth inning we couldn't put anything together," Gregory said. "We had some chances earlier in the game and we couldn't make anything out of them. We can't keep missing in those situations. We need to get that turned around."
Georgetown will host Lake City tonight and Conway on Tuesday - both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
Lake City is on top of the standings in League II with a 4-1 mark and, with a conference record of 4-4, Conway is in a battle with Georgetown for second place.
Following Tuesday's game, Post 114 will have an extended break in the schedule, not returning to the field until July 10.
Junior Legion
WACCAMAW 9, ANDREWS 2: Nick Franza was the winning pitcher and helped his own cause with two hits and three RBIs as Waccamaw got the win on Saturday.
Kevin Anderson had three hits for Waccamaw and drove in two.
Waccamaw (9-5, 7-4 League II) plays at Georgetown tonight. The winner of this game will be in a first-place tie in the conference standings with Conway - a one-game tiebreaker would likely be necessary to determine the League champion.
Andrews (8-8, 6-5) travels to Socastee tonight. The winner will earn the final playoff spot from League II.