Lexington baseball beats rival River Bluff setting up region title showdown
Lexington baseball kept its region title hopes alive on Tuesday.
Jake Epps and Brayden Studebaker combined on a four-hit shutout as the Wildcats defeated rival River Bluff, 5-0, in the first of a two-game series between the two Lexington County schools.
With the win, Lexington (10-12, 6-3) is tied with Chapin for second place in the region. Both teams trail River Bluff by a game in Region 4-5A. But the winner of Thursday’s game between Lexington and River Bluff (15-6, 7-2) will win the region title and be the top seed from the region in the playoffs that start in two weeks.
It has been a challenging year on and off the field for the Wildcats, who had a six-game losing streak early in the season. But Lexington is a win away from a region title and first-round bye in the playoffs.
“I told the guys we can’t control what has happened in the rearview mirror, but we got a shot this week to control our own destiny,” Lexington coach Brian Hucks said. “We needed to hold serve tonight, and we did.”
Hucks said he challenged Epps and Studebaker, and the two seniors delivered strong pitching performances.
Epps picked up the win, going 4.1 innings and allowing two hits and striking out four. Studebaker pitched the final 2.2 innings.
“We just did everything we could to get us to Thursday,” Epps said. “Coach Hucks and the whole team believes in us, and this is what we have done. It was just get the ball over the plate, make them swing the bat and believe in the guys behind us. Our mindset was just attack.”
Studebaker came in the top of the fifth with runners on first and second and one out. But the left-hander retired the next two batters to end the threat.
Lexington stranded four in the first two innings against River Bluff pitcher Dalton Corley. The Gators were without pitcher Peyton Hewitt, who suffered an ankle injury in pre-game before last week’s game against Dutch Fork. River Bluff coach Mark Bonnette said Hewitt will miss three weeks.
The Wildcats got to Corley in the third inning as Banks Jones delivered a two-run triple and Ethan Madden followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0. Madden added a two-run single in the fifth that made it 5-0.
“We had a couple key hits in the third and scored three runs and tacked on two big ones in the fifth,” Hucks said.
Graham Coleman added two hits for the Wildcats.
Bonnette gathered his team down the left-field line after the game to challenge them. The Gators will start Raymond Kastner on Thursday as they go for the region crown.
“We get a chance to play at home on Thursday,” Bonnette said. “Ray Kastner has been great for us, so I am excited where we are at.”
