LowcoSports.com
PJ Daley tossed a gem, and six Eagles had multiple hits as Beaufort High baseball opened Region 7-4A play with a 12-0 win over visiting Lucy Beckham on Monday after dropping its final three games in the PBR Showdown over the weekend at Shipyard Park.
Daley struck out seven and walked two over four innings of one-hit ball to earn the win, and Mason Connelly struck out two to work around three walks in the fifth to finish the abbreviated shutout.
Connelly led the 15-hit attack, going 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs, and Hunter Rast, Carter Bowersox, Tommy Winburn, Chase McKelvey, and Zach Talbert each added a pair of hits as the Eagles swung it well throughout the lineup.
Rast, Bowersox, Winburn, and Talbert each drove in two runs, and McKelvey doubled and scored twice.
Daley also turned in a stellar outing in the Eagles’ opener, and Rast led an opportunistic Eagles offense in a 2-0 win over Stratford on Thursday at Shipyard Park in Mount Pleasant.
Daley struck out five over 5 2/3 innings, scattering three hits and two walks, and Talbert recorded the final four outs in order with two strikeouts to finish off a season-opening shutout, but it didn’t start so smoothly.
Daley walked the tightrope in the top of the first, as Thomas Purcell led off the game with a single and moved to second on a ground out, but he had to hold up to make sure Brett Marrs’ bloop double to right got down, preventing him from scoring. Bowersox snared a Harry Wiggins line drive at first, and Daley got a grounder to end the threat.
It was mostly smooth sailing from there, and it didn’t take the Eagles long to give him a cushion. Logan Brutcher drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position on Talbert’s sacrifice bunt, and Rast came through with a single up the middle to put Beaufort on the board.
The Eagles added an insurance run in the fifth, when Talbert started the inning with a walk, Rast singled, and Daley moved both into scoring position with a sacrifice. McKelvey’s grounder to second did the job with one out, bringing home Talbert for a 2-0 lead. Talbert relieved Daley after a two-out walk in the sixth and ended the inning with a strikeout, then retired the Knights in order in the seventh. Rast was 3-for-3 with an RBI, and Hudson Mullen went 1-for-2 with a walk for the Eagles.
The Eagles dropped their next three games in the tournament, though, getting shut out by Wando (5-0) and Ashley Ridge (11-0) before giving up three runs in the seventh to lose 7-4 to Northwestern on Sunday.
Rast and Mullen had great weekends at the plate, as Rast was 6-for-14 with a triple and two RBIs, and Mullen was 4-for-10 with a triple and an RBI. Brutcher and Connelly added three hits each. Tommy Winburn gave the Eagles four strong innings of relief against Wando, and Malcom Webb and Talbert combined to keep Beaufort in the game with Northwestern until a one-out error opened the door for the Trojans to score three runs in the seventh.
Beaufort (2-3, 1-0) was slated to travel to Lucy Beckham to conclude the series Wednesday.
