A.C. Flora flying high again after dominating in district play

One season after not advancing out of the district baseball playoffs, A.C. Flora is back in familiar territory. The Falcons defeated North Myrtle Beach 9-3 Tuesday night to win the Class 4A, District V title and advance to the Lower State Championship Series.

A.C. Flora will open at home against Beaufort. The other teams are Colleton County and Hilton Head. The double-elimination four-team bracket begins on Thursday with the Falcons playing at home at 7 p.m.

“The goal and expectation is to be playing at this time of year,” A.C. Flora coach Andy Hallett said. “These kids have accepted the challenges all year long and they made it back to the final four. That’s not always the easiest thing to do.”

The Falcons won three consecutive state titles from 2012-14 and advanced to the Upper State championship series in 2015 before missing out last year.

But they dominated in district play, outscoring opponents 29-5 in three games.

“It means all of our hard work is paying off,” sophomore Leighton Long said.

The clincher against North Myrtle Beach (17-8) featured a bevy of key two-out hits. A.C. Flora (20-7) scratched across single runs in the second and third innings before breaking things open in the fourth with five runs. Four of the runs came with two outs.

“We had a couple of flares and a couple of bullets, but in the end, they all count the same,” Hallett said. “I thought our kids did a great good job of hitting with two outs and runners in scoring position. That’s one of our big focuses.”

Jonnie Hernandez opened the scoring with a two-out RBI single. The Falcons added an unearned run in the third inning that also came with two outs.

Henry Mills, Lane Botkin, Will Bethea and Long all had run-scoring hits in the five-run outburst in the fourth inning. Bethea and Long’s hits came with two outs.

Long, who is hitting .405, led the way offensively with three hits and two RBIs. Botkin also added two RBIs.

Bethea earned the win, pitching 4 1/3 innings. He allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Parker Carlton recorded the final seven outs.