Mid-Carolina holds off rivals in home win

PROSPERITY, S.C. — Mid-Carolina picked up a region win against Newberry(5-6, 1-4 region 2-AA) on Thursday evening at home. The two rivals met for the first team this season and the Rebels won 9-6.

The home team jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first inning. The Rebels added two more runs in the second inning, another run in the third inning and two more runs in the fourth inning. They lead 9-0 after four innings. The visitors finally got on the scoreboard at the bottom of the third inning, but really did their damage in the back of the half of the game.

Newberry would storm back at the bottom of the fifth inning. The Bulldogs’ offense got hot and they were able to score four runs to make this rivalry competitive. Mid-Carolina brought in Jabari Flemon at the bottom of the fifth.

“We’ve been in some big games and played some really good opponents. So, our guys are battle tested. They made a charge and if the ball goes here or there then you never know, but I am real proud of our guys to be able to stand up and finish it,” said Rebels’ head coach Lindsey Stribble.

The visiting Bulldogs would keep their hot offense going by starting off the the top of the sixth inning with back-to-back singles from Liam Davenport and Noah Mills. Unfortunately, they couldn’t capitalize on the good start to the inning and left runners stranded on base. They would add a run at the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Rebels held on for the all important region win against their rivals.

“It’s definitely always good to get a region win. Coach Skinner and his guys, a couple of those I coached. Those guys do a great job and they were ready,” said Stribble. “They battled! We went up early and knew it wasn’t going to be easy and be over. Those guys just battled back all night and had good swings at us, but real proud of our guys being able to hold on to get it done.”

Both teams will participate in a weekend tournament that starts on March 30 and concludes on April 1.