FLORENCE, S.C. – It was a moment the South Florence baseball team had trained and prepared for all season, senior Luke Miller said.
“The things that you practice end up being important in games,” he added, still smiling and showing no ill effects of the victory dogpile that capped off his evening.
Situational moments the Bruins coaching staff harped on leading up to Friday’s game against Lugoff-Elgin wound up paying off in a big way, especially for Miller. Coming on in relief in a one-run game, Miller worked around a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning to keep South in the lead.
That same inning at the plate, his perfectly placed hit-and-run single through the right side led to a big inning for the Bruins as they tacked on three more runs to pull away for a 5-1 win and the bracket championship.
“It’s a big step for us,” SFHS coach Kenny Gray said. “To come in and win this game tonight and get to the lower state championship and play (North Myrtle Beach), it just feels really good. …Dylan (Wiegel) went out on the mound and gave us four good, strong innings. Luke came in on the tail end of it and shut the door.
“I’m just proud of our guys.”
South Florence (24-5) advances to next week’s 4A lower state championship series against a familiar foe in Region 6-4A champ North Myrtle Beach. The best-of-three campaign begins Tuesday in Little River at 6:30 p.m. with South hosting Game 2 on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
If necessary, the Chiefs will have home-field advantage for a decisive third game to be played Friday.
“It feels great,” Miller said afterwards. “This has been the goal; this has been where we wanted to get this entire year. We’ve been training for it, trying to go 1-0 with each game and it got us here.
“We were able to come through when we needed to.”
That was certainly true of Miller and Wiegel. The duo combined to give up just one run on six hits against the top-seeded Demons, who only scored once against South in two matchups this postseason.
Wiegel stranded a pair of L-E runners in scoring position in the fourth before Miller’s strong finish in the fifth left the bases juiced with no runs across. Both pitchers struck out the final two batters each frame to end the threats.
“I can’t say enough about those guys,” Gray said. “Later on in the game, we got a great double play that was made, and I just felt like it was a team effort all the way around tonight.”
Miller pointed to that exact situation being covered by assistant coach Brandon Hyman in practice, along with his key at-bat in the fifth. After Chandler Thompson led off with a single, Miller went the other way on a hit-and-run as the ball made it all the way through to the outfield – allowing Thompson to reach third with nobody out.
Noah Moore followed with an RBI single, SFHS plated another run on an errant pickoff attempt at second and Hunter McClary walked with the bases loaded to give the Bruins some breathing room at 5-1.
“It was a slider that was a foot-and-a-half off the plate,” Miller said of his key knock. “Just had to put it in play and it ended up working out for us. But those are the kinds of things that we practice, too. We do a hit-and-run at (batting practice) each day.”
Miller had little trouble getting through the final two innings, helped out by a double play in the sixth. He wound up striking out four in three innings of work and allowing just two hits.
Moore had two hits to lead the Bruins, who took a 2-0 lead in the second on RBI singles by Wyatt Williams and Brayden Robinson.
Lugoff scored its lone run against SFHS in the third. Cobe Evans singled with two outs and stole second and third before he dashed home on a pickoff attempt at first.
LE 001 000 0 – 1 6 1
SF 020 030 x – 5 7 1
WP – Dylan Wiegel (4 IP, ER, 4 H, 3 K, 2 BB). LP – Billy Robertson (1 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 2 BB, HBP).
LEADING HITTERS – SF: Brayden Robinson 1-3, BB, RBI; Chandler Thompson 1-4, R; Luke Miller 1-3, HBP; Noah Moore 2-3, RBI; Aydin Palmer 1-4, R; Hunter Matthews 0-2, HBP, 2 R; Wyatt Williams 1-2, IBB, RBI; Hunter McClary 0-1, 2 BB, RBI.
RECORD: SF 24-5
NEXT GAME: South Florence will travel to North Myrtle Beach for Game 1 of the lower-state championship series on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
May 13, 2023 | Morning News (Florence, SC)
Author/Byline: JUSTIN DRIGGERS Morning News jdriggers@florencenews.com | Section: Sports