Richland’s Kyle Towles slides safely into third base as Rock Hill’s Drew Hardee looks for the errant throw. Photos by Mike Maddock Come the fall, when they are just freshmen working out in hopes of making the Presbyterian College baseball team, the quartet will have much to talk about.

But Brad Zebides and Brantley Rumford will have the edge when it comes to needling Chandler Knox and Bud Jeter.

Zebides homered and Rumford hit a fly ball that turned into a pivotal two–run error as Rock Hill beat Richland 10–6 in an elimination game of the South Carolina American Legion Tournament on Sunday at Capital City Stadium.

“We played evenly with them in terms of pitching and defense for almost eight innings,“ Richland Post 6 coach Ray Derrick said. “We had little breaks here and there that cost us. We had a defensive break in the eighth. We had runners in scoring position (with one out) in the fourth, fifth, and seventh and didn’t get the key hit. And when you’re playing a team like Rock Hill and just hanging around, those things come back to hurt you.”

Chandler Knox pitches for Richland against Rock Hill. Despite the little things that went wrong, Richland entered the bottom half of the seventh leading 6–4 behind a four run second inning and the pitching of Knox, who yielded four hits through the first six innings.

“Chandler battled his guts out,” Derrick said. “He‘s one of the ones I hate to lose and not be able to coach anymore. He’s a good player and a great kid.”

Knox battled his control early but knew he was it as far as pitching went for Post 6.

“I usually have a pretty good breaking ball, but to be effective I need to set it up with my fastball in on the hands and start my curve on the outside edge of the plate and break it off,” Knox said. “At the beginning of the game, I had no control.”

Zebides drilled a fastball over the left center fence in the first to give Rock Hill a 2–0 lead, but Richland responded by having the bottom four batters in the order reach on three singles and a walk in the second. Following a sacrifice fly and run–scoring fielder’s choice, Kyle Towles manufactured the last run when he stole second and kept running, coming home on two errant throws.

Though Post 34 tied the game in the fourth, Richland retook a two–run lead in the fifth. They held it until the lack of available pitching depth three days into the tournament caught up with Post 6.

“I lost some steam at the end,” Knox said of working in 100 degree midday heat. He had also caught for nine innings the day before in Richland’s victory over Florence. “They started teeing off on my curve and fastball.”

Rock Hill tied the game with two runs in the seventh and put six of its first seven batters on base in the eighth. The out was a sacrifice. A dropped fly ball with the bases loaded allowed the first two runs to score, and Josh Bowers two–run single ended Knox’s day.

“We knew we were going to have to outscore them,” Knox said. “There was no way we could coast against a team as strong offensively as they were; you knew they were going to score.”