RedWolves rally past Fayetteville

FLORENCE — Logan Munson’s first start on the mound for Florence on Monday night didn’t go the way he would have liked.

But by the time the sixth inning was finished — two hours and 35 minutes after first pitch — Munson’s struggles were long forgotten.

Florence scored nine runs in the sixth inning, erasing a two-run deficit in the process of blowing open the game in its 18-7 win over Fayetteville at American Legion Field.

Florence is now 8-0 this season against its rival from just a little more than an hour up I-95.

Kent Burford was 4-for-4 with a walk batting in the ninth spot for the RedWolves. Blake Walker, Barrett Kleinknecht and Cody Stinger each had three hits in Florence’s 23-hit barrage.

Munson, who had previously made just three relief appearances, struggled mightily.

He walked six in four-plus innings, had one wild pitch and balked in one of the five runs he allowed.

But his teammates made sure it didn’t matter.

Florence (25-10 overall, 5-3 second half) sent 12 batters to the plate in the sixth.

Burford singled to start the inning, Jamie Walczak walked and Andrew Guerra’s sacrifice bunt attempt turned into a single to load the bases.

Blake Walker pushed a hard bunt to the right side for a base hit to score Burford, and Kleinknecht followed with a single to center to score Walczak and Guerra, giving Florence a 7-6 lead.

Kleinknecht then scored on Cody Stinger’s one-out single to center, giving Florence an 8-6 lead.

The RedWolves never looked back. They led 13-6 after the sixth and tacked on five more in the seventh.

Ben Moore took the loss for Fayetteville (19-19, 4-6). He was responsible for five runs on four hits and a walk.

Andre Benjamin got the win in relief for the RedWolves.

The SwampDogs broke a 2-2 tie in the third inning. Just as it did in the first inning, a walk issued to Conner Crumbliss came back to hurt the RedWolves. Crumbliss eventually scored on a two-out single from Nick Fleece to make it 3-2. Munson then balked in Dustin Johnson to make it 4-2.

Fayetteville got an RBI double from Parker Bangs and a sacrifice fly from Fleece in the first inning to lead 2-0, but the RedWolves got those runs right back on a big hit from Alec Lowery in the bottom of the inning.

Lowery laced a two-out double into the left-field corner, scoring both Guerra and Walker to make it 2-2.

Notes

Florence and Columbia play a doubleheader at American Legion Field on Wednesday. The first game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. first pitch. … Members of the RedWolves are scheduled to be at Indigo Joe’s from 6-8 p.m. today for a meet-and-greet and autograph session. Indigo Joe’s is located on Radio Drive near the Florence Civic Center.