HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Hartsville had its eyes this week on winning Monday and Wednesday before meeting South Florence in one of Friday’s two Class 4A lower-state bracket finals.

But on Monday, Greer had other plans, scoring seven runs in the first and winning 12-2 Monday.

Hartsville, last year’s Class 4A state runner-up, ends this campaign with a 14-12 record.

Greer’s offense clicked from the start. Hudson Brannon, a Francis Marion commit, hit a three-run homer. After Greer scored on a passed ball, RBI singles by Trey Wendell and Cole Bellinger — aong with a Landon Barbare sacrifice fly — made it 7-0.

“The first inning was tough,” Hartsville coach Tony Gainey said. “We were trying to pull off a little magic with some of our guys who had not thrown a whole heck of a lot. It worked against Lugoff-Elgin; it was just a 3-0 ballgame. Tonight, we just ran up against a team that was playing really good. They’ve been playing well since the end of the regular season.”

Hartsville started Ace Gibson on the mound, and the Red Foxes used three more pitchers before the game ended in the fifth inning.

“(Greer) came out swinging the bats,” Gainey said. “They came out with a lot of energy. We kind of had the feeling we were going to have to score some runs. And unfortunately, we couldn’t get the offense rolling.”

The Yellow Jackets added four more runs in the second, and another in the third.

Hartsville then scored its two runs in the fourth. After Andrew Askins singled and John Alexander reached on an error, Stephen Winburn’s sacrifice fly made it 1-0. Then, with two outs, the Red Foxes made it 2-0 when McKendrie Douglas drew a bases-loaded walk.

But that was all the Red Foxes could bring across home plate. After losing so many key players from last year’s state runner-up team, Gainey was proud of the push this year’s team made in the end.

“I’m really proud of the guys for the year they’ve had,” Gainey said. “We didn’t get a lot of preseason publicity, and nobody gave us a real shot to do anything that we did. To make it this far in the playoffs and battle the way we did, I’m super proud of them.”

May 8, 2023 | Morning News (Florence, SC)
Author/Byline: SCOTT CHANCEY Morning Newsschancey@florencenews.com | Section: Sports