By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
After a challenging early-season schedule, the Beaufort High baseball team opened Region 6-4A play in impressive fashion, sweeping a three-game series from Hilton Head High to put the Eagles right in the mix in a crowded region race.
After grinding out a 6-3 home win Monday, Beaufort blanked the Seahawks, 5-0, on Wednesday and routed Hilton Head, 13-3, in the finale to take a spot atop the region standings alongside Bluffton, which swept Colleton County.
The Eagles let a 3-1 lead slip away in the opener when Hilton Head tied it with a pair of runs in the fourth, but Tanner Altman scored from third on a passed ball to put Beaufort back on top, and the Eagles added two runs in the sixth. Dylan Rast took care of the rest, striking out six and walking one over 3⅔ hitless innings in relief of Carter Womack. Reece Mullen went 3-for-3 with an RBI and Sellers Lynn was 2-for-4 to pace Beaufort’s offense.
Gunnar Hollingsworth picked up where Rast left off on the mound Wednesday at Hilton Head, striking out 12 over six innings with just two walks and two hits, and Jayden Davis struck out the side in a perfect seventh to close out a 5-0 win. Rast was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and Lynn and Samari Bonds each added RBI triples.
The Eagles finished the sweep with a 13-3 rout Friday at home, as Mullen went 4-for-5 with a triple and four RBIs in the leadoff spot, while Bonds, Rast, and Altman each added two hits and Rast drove in three runs. Hudson Mullen went five innings for the win, striking out 10 with three walks and three hits while allowing three runs (one earned).
The degree of difficulty ratchets up this week and next for the Eagles, who face top contenders Bishop England and May River over the next two weeks in a stretch that should help sort out the region’s top tier.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
