By Thomas Grant Jr.
Through four games, West Columbia Post 79 leads the way in the American Legion League 3 standings.
Monday’s 6-3 win over Lexington Post 7 improved it to 4-0 in league play. West Columbia enjoyed a ½ game lead over Richland Post 215, while Lexington dropped to 3-3.
“I couldn’t be more prouder,” West Columbia head coach Dargan Lybrand said. “The kids are coming out there and just starting the season right. They’ve worked hard and they’ve played hard.”
Chance Culley went 2-4 with four RBI. His bases-clearing double in the first inning put West Columbia up 3-0.
After Logan Gadberry struck out the first two batters, he gave up a single to Logan Blight and walked Candler Morden. Matthew Bishop followed with a 2-run triple to bring Post 7 within a run.
West Columbia made it 5-3 in the Top 3rd on back-to-back RBI singles by Colby Reynolds and Culley. Lexington got a run back in the Bottom 3rd on a Lincoln Hill RBI single.
Third baseman Rylan Bullis made the first of three defensive plays to end the inning. He snagged a groundball by Matthew Free, ran to third base to force out Cooper James and made the putout throw to first for the double play.
“Rylan Bullis is a talent,” Lybrand said. “He’s a 10th grader going to his 11th grade in high school. He’ll play shortstop for us, too, but he’s a talent.”
Gadberry and reliever Bryson Steele held Lexington scoreless over the last four innings. West Columbia added a run on an error in the fifth and Hunter Epps’ RBI single in the seventh.
The two teams met again Wednesday at Brookland-Cayce and Thursday back in Lexington to close out their 3-game series.
AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL SCHEDULE
(West Columbia Post 79)
MONDAY – at Winnsboro
TUESDAY – JOANNA HORNETS (Brookland-Cayce High School)
WEDNESDAY – WINNSBORO (Brookland-Cayce High School)
(Lexington Post 7)
MONDAY – at Chapin/Newberry (Newberry College)
TUESDAY – CHAPIN/NEWBERRY (Lexington High School)
WEDNESDAY – at Chapin/Newberry (Newberry College)
