FLORENCE — Post 1 starter Chris Wallace was taken out of Tuesday’s first-round American Legion playoff game after seven innings because of a blood blister on his finger.
It was the only blemish Wallace had all night.
Wallace threw seven shutout innings of five-hit ball as Post 1 earned an 8-2 victory against Beaufort and took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
The series shifts back to Beaufort tonight and Thursday for games two and three. Game one, originally scheduled for Monday in Beaufort, was rained out.
“I said last week that I thought being able to get out to an early lead and playing ahead would be key against a team we really didn’t know,” Post 1 coach Derick Urquhart said. “The offense was there when we needed it, and the pitching was obviously outstanding.”
Wallace scattered five hits and allowed just seven baserunners total. He walked one, hit a batter, struck out four and never faced any major trouble until the seventh inning.
“I felt good, and had my defense behind me,” Wallace said. “It was really just about throwing strikes and getting ahead of batters. Then I used off-speed stuff and tried to get ground balls.”
After allowing a leadoff double to Randolph Brown, to start the game, Wallace retired 11 of the next 14 batters he faced.
Post 1 gave him all the run support he needed in the first. Robert Skinner doubled off Post 9 starter Chase Goude, then came home two batters later on Keith Branco’s double. With two out, Tyler Boyd walked, then went to second on a wild pitch, setting up Patrick Mincey.
With a full count, Mincey singled to right field, bringing home Branco and Boyd to give Florence a 3-0 lead. Mincey finished 2-for-4 with three RBI to lead Post 1.
“Patrick’s had some big RBIs for us this year,” Urquhart said. “We were able to take advantage of a little wildness from Goude early on, which was big because he was very good after he settled down.”
Goude pitched two more scoreless innings before Mincey and Brandon Hyman got things rolling again in the fourth inning. The Post 1 duo hit back-to-back homers to lead off the inning and increase Florence’s lead to 5-0.
Post 9 threatened in the seventh, putting runners on second and third with no outs. But Wallace induced a lineout, a shallow fly to left and a groundout to short to end the inning.
Florence added two more runs in the bottom half on John Taylor’s RBI single, and a Beaufort throwing error. Gause was chased after allowing six earned runs in six and two thirds innings on 11 hits.
Beaufort finally broke through in the eighth inning off Spencer Jordan. Toland Sams hit a solo homer and Weldon Smith doubled, then came around to score on a Post 1 error.
Skinner’s RBI single in eighth ended the scoring. Skinner went 3-for-5 with an RBI for Post 1. Austin Morrell was 2-for-4, as was Taylor.
B 000 000 020 — 2 7 1
F 300 200 21x — 8 14 1
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