By Tommy Howard

thoward@gtowntimes.com

• Bishop England wins Coastal Invitational

"We're awful proud of the Coastal Invitational Tournament," Waccamaw coach Jeff Gregory said Monday.

His Warriors are in their fourth year of hosting the 8-team tournament at their Pawleys Island home field.

Bishop England of Charleston won the tournament's championship game Sunday over Chesnee by a score of 6-2.

Congratulations also goes to Alex Abrams who was crowned tournament MVP.

In the first-ever Coastal Invitational Homerun Derby, Waccamaw's Zack Hagaman hit 3 homeruns for 9 points to take the title of 2010 Homerun Champion.

Championship game

The BE-Chesnee game amounted to a replay of last year's Class AA baseball state championship series.

The Bishops swept the Eagles in two games last May to win their fourth state title in seven years.

The Bishops went 3-1 in the tournament and received some outstanding pitching efforts from Jimmy Lindberg, David Dunlay and Drew Bastian. The Bishops allowed four runs, only one was earned.

Bishop England coach Bill Collier was concerned about his team's offense -- or lack of it -- following a 1-0 loss to Dillon on Friday night.

But the Bishops scored 12 runs Saturday against Chesterfield and hit a pair of home runs on Sunday.

Veteran shortstop Alex Abrams went 3-for-3 with a double and two-run homer on Sunday to win the tournament's MVP award. Abrams went 8-for-14 in the tournament with two doubles, two triples and a homer.

Left-hander Lindberg picked up two of the victories. He allowed only four hits and an unearned run in six innings of work. He walked three and struck out seven.

On Sunday, pinch-hitter Andrew Kinard hit a three-run home run down the left-field line in the bottom of the fifth inning to snap a 1-1 tie.

Sophomore second baseman Ryan Maksim had an RBI single to account for the Bishops' first run.

Grows every year

Waccamaw's coach Gregory said the Coastal Invitational has grown every year, and the field just gets stronger.

"The last two years the 1A and 2A championships teams have come out of it."

"This tournament this year was probably the strongest we've had."

"Out guys played very well, as young as we are," Gregory continued.

Warriors' games

On Thursday, the first day of the tournament, Waccamaw started off against Bishop England, defending state champion.

"We were 1-1 going into the 5th, when I pulled Zack Hagaman. Up to that point we were playing tit for tat," but BE went on to win 8-1.

The Warriors' second game was against Chesterfield. "We beat them 7-0," Gregory said.

"That was a great performance by Aaron Bishop."

"The unique thing about our tournament is that it's a wood bat tournament. It separates the average batter from the great hitter."

"The third game was against Dillon. We squeaked out a win against them, 3-1."

On Sunday, Waccamaw played Cheraw, which won 8-3 over the Warriors.

"They are #9 in AA ranking," Gregory said. "We didn't play as well" against them.

"We had 8 hits, so should have done better." But, he said, the team members were tired from their fourth day of ball.

And, on Monday, they were to start region play at home against Kingstree.

Waccamaw's next home game will be Tuesday, March 23.

In the tournament, Zack Hagaman won the first-ever Homerun Derby. "He was able to crank out three home runs" and won that competition.

The Post and Courier contributed to this story.