By MONTE DUTTON

I heard, almost accidentally, words of a political analyst that struck me as useful for young athletes.

“Hope alone will not win, but despair will lose every time.”

Three American Legion Senior baseball teams have Laurens County players. All three had their playoff series stretched to a third game.

Greenwood Post 20, which lost the first game, defeated Camden Post 17, 5-4, on Tuesday night.

Golden Strip Post 271, which won the former, lost the latter, 5-4, to Lexington Post 7, 7-6.

Ditto Chapin-Newberry Post 193/24, which won on Monday but fell to Richland Post 215, 3-2, on Tuesday.

As a result, decisive games begin on Wednesday, weather permitting, in Camden for Greenwood, at Richland for Chapin-Newberry and in Simpsonville for Golden Strip and Lexington.

All three games are listed at 7 p.m.

As usual, Laurens Raiders played important roles for Golden Strip (9-4) versus Lexington.

Six Raiders started in the field, and two toed the rubber.

Shortstop Ben Willis was 3/4 and swiped two bases. Third baseman Coleman Coker was 2/3 and drove in two runs. Catcher Bennett Edwards, center fielder Asher Goss and right fielder Hunter Nabors all hit safely.

Connor Rice started on the mound, and Joshua Hughes followed him. Neither was involved in the decision. What proved to be the winning scored on a balk in the fifth inning.

Lexington won despite five errors, which were five more than the Warriors.

Toby Sobieralski and Will Burgess each stroked two hits for Lexington.

Ex-Raiders Jaedon Goodwin and Jackson Martin both played a role in keeping Greenwood (8-12) at home against Camden.

Goodwin’s one-out, two-run double in the fifth inning gave the Warriors a lead they never relinquished.

Martin hit safely and scored Greenwood’s final run after a lead-off walk in the sixth on Brayden Shealy’s single. Shealy was 2/3 and also drove in two.

Another Brayden, Scott, was the winning pitcher, and Landen Still earned a save.

Chapin-Newberry’s pitchers, Tyler Stephenson and Clinton’s Carson Glenn, gave up an earned run between them, but the team still fell.

Stephenson took the loss, but Glenn held the line. The lefthander allowed only a hit – two walks, one strikeout – in three innings.

Bryce Satterwhite collected two of C-N’s five hits. Richland had only three as a team.

Presbyterian College men’s tennis earned national (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) team academic status, and two were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.

Marco Foglieni and Denim Yadav were named ITA Scholar-Athletes, and PC was one of 176 schools to earn the team distinction.
Presbyterian posted a 3.39 team GPA for the 2023-24 academic year.

Foglieni, from Cologno al Serio, Italy, has a 3.79 GPA while currently undeclared on his major.

Yadav, from Indore, India, has a 3.96, also undeclared.

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