Darlington and Lamar put together great week of baseball
By Drake Horton, Contributing Writer
Darlington Falcons
It was a productive week of baseball for the Darlington Falcons, winning two out of the three games it played.
More importantly those two wins were the Falcons first region wins of the year, defeating the Crestwood Knights 10-4 on Tuesday, March 28th in Sumter and 7-3 at home on Thursday.
“Thankfully our kids were able to get two conference wins and stay on pace with Hartsville and Lugoff-Elgin,” Darlington head coach Dennis Gearhart said. “We need to continue to improve and be ready to travel to Lakewood Wednesday.”
Falcons starting pitcher Drake Adams pitched great in Darlington’s first game against Crestwood and Anthony Hopkins, coming off of an injury suffered before the season, made his first start of the season on Thursday, picking up the win.
“Anthony Hopkins had an excellent start on Thursday,” Gearhart said. “He pitched five strong innings coming off an injury.”
An area of concern for Darlington, according to Gearhart, still resides on the offensive side, especially when it comes to converting with runners in scoring position.
“We need to do a better job of providing run support with runners in scoring position,” Gearhart said.
Darlington dropped a non-conference game this past Wednesday against the Wilson Tigers 7-6 on the road and while this week may not have been the Falcons best overall, Gearhart likes what his team is doing and hopes they can build off the momentum of this past week.
“We certainly didn’t play our best baseball this week,” Gearhart said. “I am hoping the best is yet to come.”
The Falcons overall record is 8-6 overall, 2-2 in the region.
Lamar Silver Foxes
The Silver Foxes kept to their winning ways this past week, going 3-0, defeating McBee 13-3 at home, on Tuesday, March 28th, East Clarendon 17-2 on Wednesday and Great Falls 10-0 on Friday.
“We did what we pride ourselves on, which is throw strikes and play defense,” Lamar head coach Adam Windham said. “We had a great week at the plate. We hit a lot balls hard that found some holes.”
The win against McBee avenged a 9-7 lost back on March 10th and puts the Silver Foxes right back in contention for the region championship.
With the clean sweep of the three games this past week, especially the big win against McBee that can bring big implications when it comes to the playoffs, the Silver Foxes are playing with a strong level of confidence.
“We are,” Windham said, mentioning that his team is playing with confidence. “Hopefully we can keep it going and continue to get better as the playoffs approach.”
Lamar’s overall record improves to 13-3 overall, 4-2 in the region.