Bluffton American held off a late rally from Bluffton National to win the Dixie Youth Baseball District 8 AA Machine Pitch (7-8) title with a 10-7 victory Tuesday in Walterboro.
Each team traded runs in the first two innings before American added one in the third and broke it open with a four-run fourth for an 8-2 advantage. National rallied with two outs in the fifth to score five runs and pull within one, but American tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth and held on for a second straight victory over National.
Trevor Wolfe was 3-for-3 with a double and four RBIs, Noah Sepulveda was 3-for-3 with a double, a triple, and an RBI, and Jaxson LeBaron added three hits to lead American. Finn Boyles had two hits and two RBIs, and Zack Szypczak, Nicholas Carpenter, Gage Colella, and Nathan Guthrie each had two hits.
Colt Harper was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, Eli Elam was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Austin Broene was 1-for-3 with two RBIs for National.
Both teams advance to the state tournament July 6-9 in Florence.