HS Baseball: Chapin, AC Flora advance to title series. Airport’s hopes stay alive
AC Flora and Chapin baseball are headed to play for state championships, and Airport baseball kept its title hopes alive Thursday night.
AC Flora routed Wren, 14-3, to win the Class 4A Upper State championship and advance to its first title series since 2021. The Falcons won’t find out their opponent until Saturday.
Chapin is headed to the state championship for the first time since 2016 as it defeated West Florence, 6-3, to sweep the Class 5A Division II Lower State series. The Eagles will face the TL Hanna/Indian Land winner in Game 1 on Tuesday on the road. TL Hanna defeated Indian Land, 3-2, to even up the best-of-three series, with the deciding game set for Indian Land on Saturday.
“Can’t really put into words what this means. It’s special for each of these kids,” Chapin coach Dell Lever told The State on Thursday. “We took a few lumps along the way, but we kept learning and that’s only going to make us better.
“These guys love each other, they play for each other and they love playing the game. To be able to represent our school on this stage is huge for our team and our community. I’m just so excited for these guys! They’ve truly earned this opportunity.”
Airport used a four-run fifth inning and held on to defeat Hartsville, 9-7, to even the Class 4A Lower State championship series at 1-1. The deciding game is at Hartsville on Saturday, with the winner traveling to AC Flora on Tuesday for Game 1 of the state championship series.
Fourth inning the key for Chapin baseball
Chapin used a four-run fourth inning in its clinching win on the road at West Florence.
Felix Flecha Ruiz had a three-run double to put Chapin up 3-1, then Reese Jolley added a double later in the inning.
After West cut the lead to 4-3, Kaedyn Harris hit a two-run homer in the top of the seventh to make it 6-3.
Griff Harper pitched a complete game for Chapin, allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out five. Harris was 2 for 4 with two RBIs; Weston Plotner had two hits.
Offense carries Flora past Wren
Charlie Scott, Roper Wentzky, Tyler Hernandez, Rohan Bremmer and Joe Ray all drove in two as the Falcons cruised past Wren.
Scott and Luke Price each had three hits for AC Flora, which had 16 hits. Scott was a home run shy of the cycle and Bremmer hit a two-run home run to get the Falcons started in the second inning. AC Flora led 11-2 after five innings.
Riggs Scott pitched 3.1 innings of relief to pick up the win.
Airport still in the hunt
Airport rallied from a one-run deficit by scoring four runs in the fifth inning to defeat the Red Foxes. “We talked about it yesterday and in pregame you got two choices — you can either lay down or you can fight,” Airport coach Casey Bradwell said. “I thought we did a good job showing up and fighting. … We got the job done.”
The teams went back and forth, with Hartsville up 5-3 in the fourth inning. Airport scored twice in the bottom of the fourth and four more runs in the fifth to lead 9-5.
Braden Gross had the big hit with a three-run triple off the outstretched glove of Hartsville’s right fielder to make it 9-5.
The Red Foxes scored twice in the top of the seventh and had runners on first and third with two outs. But Cash Epps, who was doubtful to play because of illness, struck out Jaden Atkinson to end the game.
“I told him to stay home but at 6 o’clock he walked in the door,” Bradwell said of Epps. “You ain’t going to keep an Epps out of this game. That is what this town is about and what these kids are about. They are tough and want to win.”
Austin Rhodus got the win in relief.
Rylan Bullis led Airport with three hits and an RBI. Gross was 2 for 4 with three RBI. Isahia Clemmons added a hit and two RBIs. Justin Sightler and Gabe Ingram also had RBIs for Airport.
This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 10:46 PM.
