They had to work overtime, but that was nothing new for the Bluffton American All-Stars, who bounced back from a 5-3 loss to Hilton Head on Wednesday to win the rematch 15-4 and claim the Dixie Youth Baseball AA Coach Pitch district title in Walterboro.
After winning their first three games in the double-elimination tournament — including a pair of comeback victories in extra innings — Bluffton American had a tough time getting its offense going in the first game of the evening, and Hilton Head scored three runs in the top of the seventh and held off a rally in the bottom half to avenge an extra-innings loss to Bluffton American earlier in the tournament.
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But Bluffton’s bats didn’t stay quiet for long.
After trailing 4-2 after two innings, American plated three in the third, two in the fourth, and eight in the fifth to pull away and posted three straight scoreless innings on defense to invoke the 10-run rule.
Hilton Head’s Quinto Lopes continued his hot hitting in game 1, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs — two of which came on a go-ahead triple in the seventh. Connal Rooney and Andy Araque added two hits apiece for Hilton Head, while Austin Mayles was 3-for-3 and Owen Beckmann added two hits for Bluffton.
Mayles stayed hot for Bluffton in the nightcap, going 3-for-3 and scoring three runs from the leadoff spot, while Kellen Bruegger was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, and three RBIs. Caleb Schultz and Bryce Thornton each added three hits, Elijah Christian had two hits and two RBIs, and Brayden Kieffer drove in four runs for Bluffton American.
Lopes hit a two-run inside-the-park homer, and Cooper Pernice had two hits for Hilton Head in the finale.
Bluffton American will advance to the DYB Division 1 AA Coach Pitch State Tournament from July 10-13 in Orangeburg.
