Florence Christian baseball season ends with 8-5 loss to Hilton Head Christian

           Florence – The Florence Christian School baseball team saw its season come to an end on Tuesday, May 7, as it lost to Hilton Head Christian Academy 8-5 in an elimination game in the SCISA AAA state playoffs at the HHCA field.

           The Eagles had to make two trips to Bluffton in order to complete game. FCS, which finished with a 13-12 record, started the game on Monday. The game was tied 2-2 entering the top of the fifth inning when it was stopped because of rain. Florence Christian went back down to the Lowcountry on Tuesday to complete teh game..

           Hilton Head Christian will play at undefeated Williamsburg Academy on Wednesday, May 8, in the championship round of the 5-team, double-elimination bracket. The winner of the bracket will advance to the best-of-3 state championship series next week.

           The Eagles went 2-2 in the tournament. Seeded fourth, FCS opened with a 6-2 win over No. 5 John Paul II on April 29. Gavin Holt scattered four hits and allowed two runs over six innings to get the win. He struck out four and walked just one.

           Landon Hardy had a double and a run batted in, while Pierce Matthews, Matthew Chace and Holt each had a hit and an RBI.

           The Eagles had to travel to Bluffton the next day to face No. 1 Hilton Head Christian and took it on the chin by a 10-1 count.

The game was scoreless through the first two innings, but HHCA put up three in the bottom of the third and three more in the fourth to go up 6-0. FCS cut it to 6-1 before Hilton Head Christian took away any doubt with four in the sixth.

           The Eagles bounced back with a 5-1 win over JPII. Jackson McGregor threw a complete game 1-hitter, striking out eight and walking two.

           Hardy went 3-for-3 while McGregor, Austin Johnson and Tanner Lewis each had a hit and an RBI. Holt also had a hit.

           Florence Christian relied on its pitching most of the season as it had a 2.68 team earned run average through the regular season.

           Lewis, who has signed to pitch collegiately with Florence-Darlington Technical College, had a 5-1 win-loss record with a 1.42 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings. Pierson Gray was 3-3 with a 2.06 ERA in 37 1/3 innings.

           Holt had worked 22 2/3 innings with a 4.01 ERA and McGregor 10 1/3 with a 4.06 ERA before their impressive playoff performances.

           Offensively, FCS was hitting just .265 as a team. Hardy was leading the way with a .407 batting average and was tied for the lead in RBI with Matthews with 14.

           Matthews was batting .339 and shared the doubles lead with McGregor with six. McGregor also had three triples and a .286 average.

Juels Huntley led in runs scored with 20 and stolen bases with 15 while batting .263. Holt was batting .309 with the team’s only home run, 11 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Chace was batting .293 and Johnson had 10 steals.