By MONTE DUTTON

Coleman Coker walked on a full count with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the seventh inning Monday night.

As a result, Zee Williams walked off, and Laurens won the first of a possible three baseball games against Easley, 3-2, to decide the Upstate Class 4A championship.

Just one more win puts the Raiders in another series for the state championship.

Laurens (25-6) didn’t get but two hits, Jireh Brown’s bunt single in the fourth and pinch-hitter Avery Madden’s single in the seventh that touched off the winning rally.

When the plate umpire called ball four and thus the outcome, several fans down the left-field line who thought they could see the strike zone better than a man standing directly behind the plate made some nasty remarks to the three arbiters as they left the field.

Ninety percent of those present were wearing green, the Green Wave preferring a lighter shade, but they could easily be distinguished by those who were happy and those who were sad.

Bitterness aside, it was a splendid game. Laurens hurlers Asher Goss and Joshua Hughes worked repeatedly out of jams and kept Easley, which outhit the Raiders 6-2, at bay.

“All year, we’ve had games like that go down to the wire, but we’ve got a good squad,” said Laurens head coach Tori Patterson. “We know how to pull it out in the end.

“We knew it was important to come out and win the first one. That was the plan, and now we’ve got to go back and go get ‘em Wednesday.”

Levi Recio, Brayden Bryson, Kaleb Owens, Braxton Patton, Jackson Rampey and Peyton Anders each had a hit apiece for the Green Wave. Owens’ and Recio’s were doubles.

Easley (25-5) left runners on second and third base in the top of the first inning. Laurens (25-6) scored twice without the benefit of a hit in the bottom half.

Green Wave shortstop Ayden Beeco booted Zay Pulley’s leadoff grounder. With one out, Bennett Edwards walked. Pulley scored on Goss’s groundout. With two out, Brown’s walk drove in Hunter Nabors, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.

With two out in the third inning, Owens’ double to center hit the banner on the fence. Pulley retrieved it and threw out Bryson at the plate.

That play came in handy.

Beeco’s sacrifice fly put Easley on the board in the fourth inning, and Bryson’s RBI single in the fifth tied the score.

Walker Cox, Cole Davis and Bryson (L) were all effective on the mound for the Green Wave. None of Laurens’ three runs was earned.

Both Goss and Hughes gave up three hits. One of the two runs charged Goss, who went five innings, was unearned.

Hughes spent the first half of the season recovering from injury.

“It felt good to be back in that position,” he said. “I threw a lot in the playoffs last year, and I kind of missed it a lot early this season. I can’t tell you how much it meant to be out there with the game on the line.”

The second game is on Wednesday in Easley, starting again at 6:30 p.m. Another Laurens win and it’s over. If the Green Wave prevails, a decisive game is to be back at Ed Prescott Field on Friday, also at 6:30.

Grayson Ledford is the likely starter for the Raiders in the second game. If necessary, Jordan Hudson (7-0) will be back on the hill Friday.

“I knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said Patterson. “This is the Upstate series. Both teams are bound to be good. It was going to take somebody making a mistake, and we just capitalized and they didn’t.”

Decision time is approaching. What’s next? Do I keep doing it the way I am now? Do I amend this site? Do I continue to concentrate on local sports coverage, or do I change my priorities?

I’m thinking. I’m thinking.

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