By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
BEAUFORT – Down to their last three outs at home in extra innings, Beaufort High’s baseball team was on the brink of running it back for a winner-take-all rematch against Gilbert that the Eagles were hoping to avoid Monday night.
But with the top of a potent lineup looming, all they needed was an opening.
Malcolm Webb reached on an error to lead off the inning, Zack Talbert beat out a beauty of a bunt, and Mason Connelly bounced a two-run single through a drawn-in infield to give the Eagles a 7-6 walkoff win and the Class 3A District 6 title. Beaufort will open the Lower State bracket at Hanahan on Thursday looking to avenge two regular-season losses to their region rivals.
Talbert finished 4-for-4 with a pair of runs and an RBI and Connelly was 2-for-4 with a run and four RBIs as the top of Beaufort’s lineup set the tone. Talbert led off the game with a triple and scored on a Connelly single before Jadyn Andrews drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 2-0 before Davis Woods even took the mound. The Eagles could have had more, but Logan Brutcher was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Chase McKelvey flyout to end the inning.
Woods gave Beaufort four scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fifth. He gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning, prompting Shane Monahan to turn to Carter Bowersox, but the Indians scratched across three runs and took the lead.
The Eagles alternated hits and walks to start the sixth with Malcolm Webb’s bases-loaded base on balls forcing home the tying run before Talbert and Connelly lofted consecutive sacrifice flies to left to give Beaufort a 5-3 advantage. But Gilbert rallied in the seventh and cut it to one run on Jake Torbett’s two-out single, then tied it up when Tanner Smith was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The Indians blanked Beaufort in the bottom of the seventh and scraped across a run in the eighth, but the Eagles needed to send only three batters to the plate to muster the two runs they needed. Webb hit a sharp ground ball to short that found its way into the outfield and took second on a wild pitch. Talbert squared around to sacrifice him to third but laid a beauty down the third-base line and beat it out before swiping second to put the winning run in scoring position.
Connelly, who is committed to play at Columbia International next season, worked the count to 1-1 and hit a sharp bouncer past the diving shortstop to set off a celebration that ended with him at the bottom of a dogpile.
Survive and advance.
BASEBALL
Thursday, May 4
Class 3A
Beaufort 7, Loris 3
Camden 10, Battery Creek 0
Class 1A
Carvers Bay 11, Whale Branch 1
Monday, May 8
Class 3A
Beaufort 7, Gilbert 6
